Spur Award, Western Writers of America nomination

Donner Party Cookbook: A Guide to Survival on the Hastings Cutoff nominated for the prestigious Spur Award offered by Western Writers of America.

(PRWEB) January 26, 2004

You probably know something about The Donner Party, the wagon train that became snowbound in the mountains on the way to California? You know.... when the food ran out, they resorted to eating their dearly departed?

The tale of the 1846-1847 Donner Party is one of those fascinating episodes of American history where there is a wealth of awareness but not much knowledge. And our awareness is likely to be exclusively about the cannibalism.

Terry Del Bene, Ph.D. an archeologists and historian, tells us much more in his history of the ill-fated train and its people. In his book we learn that the wagon train was made up of a group of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, mostly of their own making.

From its inception in what is now Wyoming, on July 20, 1846, the leaders of the Donner Party made fateful decisions that doomed the wagon train from successfully completing its journey to California. An early winter in the high Serria-Nevada Mountains and record snowfalls isolated the Donner Party just short of making it through the pass. By the time of their rescue in the spring, more than half of the people were dead and those who were alive survived by consuming the frozen flesh of their traveling companions.

But, this is more than a history of this unfortunate episode in American history, the author lightens the mood with many delicious recipes that the westward travelers used before the food ran out. The book contains dozens of recipes, which are authentic to the mid-nineteenth century. There are instructions as to how to cook outdoors, in the cold, in the wind, at high altitudes and even how to use buffalo chips for fuel. Recipes include such mid-nineteenth century favorites as buffalo tongue, brain stew, gruel, lumpy dicks, journey cakes and various soups, breads, cakes, and puddings.

The author admits that the book contains an element of dark humor, but at the same time he hopes to presents the human side of this compelling tale of survival. The mix between dark humor, well research history and interesting recipes and tid-bits concerning nineteenth-century cooking makes this book and extremely enjoyable read.