Dungeness Crabs and Blackberry Cobblers: The Northwest Heritage Cookbook (1992)

Janie Hibler finds the American Northwest an eater's paradise, and the range of native foods she calls on Dungeness Crabs and Blackberry Cobblers: The Northwest Heritage Cookbook, from the seafoods and fruits suggested in the title on through Walla Walla sweet onions, provides ample grounds for local pride. The region is equally rich in cooking traditions, so Hibler can legitimately mix techniques and recipes from Native Americans, pioneers, and a world of immigrant groups. Her recipes are larded with so many notes on old-time practices and local foods that outsiders may find themselves wishing she'd get on with the cooking. Still, she makes this natural, cross-cultural feast seem well worth attending. B+