Lois Ellen Frank

Chef/Owner, Red Mesa Cuisine; Santa Fe, NM

Lois Ellen Frank, PhD is a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based chef, Native foods historian, culinary anthropologist, educator, photographer, organic gardener, and a James Beard Award winning author for her book, Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations. She is the chef/owner of Red Mesa Cuisine, LLC, a catering company specializing in the revitalization of ancestral Native American cuisine with a modern twist, where she cooks alongside Native American chef, Walter Whitewater. Lois has spent over 30 years documenting and working with the foods and lifeways of Native American communities in the Southwest. In 2020, she was the recipient of the Local Hero Olla Award, which recognizes an exceptional individual for the work they do to create healthy, innovative, vibrant, and resilient local sustainable food systems in New Mexico. (Santa Fe, NM)