Dan Cornelius JD’09 is the program outreach manager with UW Law School’s Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center. He is also a member of the Oneida Nation and an active voice in the movement for Indigenous food sovereignty, which advocates for the revitalization and protection of traditional Indigenous crops and agricultural practices. He shares and preserves these Indigenous foodways through the course Horticulture 380: Indigenous Foodways: Food and Seed Sovereignty in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and through his work on Yowela Farms, where he uses Oneida farming practices to raise corn, squash, beans, and other traditional foods. Cornelius shared the following recipes, which originally appeared in The Dane County Farmers’ Market Cookbook (Little Creek Press, 2023), as dishes that incorporate and celebrate traditional Oneida ingredients.
Three Sisters Soup
1 cup dried or 2–3 cups fresh hominy corn
½ cup dried beans
2 cups pureed squash or pumpkin
1 diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced or sliced carrots
Your choice of herbs for seasoning
Salt and pepper
- Sauté onion, celery, and carrots in a pot.
- When lightly browned, add eight cups of water along with hominy and dry beans. Boil for 45 minutes or until hominy and beans are cooked.
- Add pureed squash and seasonings. Simmer for 15 more minutes.
Native Salad
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 cup cooked dried hominy
1 cup cooked fresh shell beans, like borlotti or cranberry beans
½ cup fresh blueberries or other seasonal berries
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 scant teaspoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons sunflower or olive oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs, like parsley or dill (optional)
For the dressing: Mix vinegar, maple syrup, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a bowl. Whisk in the oil in a thin stream. Stir in the herbs, if using.
Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
