Steve Friesen followed Buffalo Bill’s New York connection to food

Steve Friesen grew up in Kansas, but a summer job brought him west in 1973. Since then, he has worked extensively in historical museums, the last 22 years being spent as director of the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave on Lookout Mountain. He notes that the subject of his previous book “Buffalo Bill” also spent considerable time in Colorado before choosing to be buried here in 1917.

SunLit: Tell us the story of this book. What inspired you to write it? Where does the story/theme come from?

Friesen: I have been interested in food history for many years and have an extensive collection of books on food history. In 1995, I started as director of the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave and eventually wrote two books about William Cody. While eating at a Mexican restaurant in Denver, my friend Patty Calhoun (of “Westword”) mentioned that she had just heard Cody opened a Mexican restaurant in New York in 1886. I became interested at Buffalo Bill as a foodie and discovered an abundance of material. on the subject. So I decided to write another book.

SunLit: Put this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the whole book? Why did you select it?

Friesen: I have chosen a series of excerpts that I believe combine to demonstrate that a man most people only know as a pioneer and showman had another little-known side. It’s not just a biography, it’s a culinary biography.

SunLit: Tell us about the creation of this book. What influences and/or experiences influenced the project before you started writing?

Friesen: I love research and was motivated by the opportunity to research this rather unknown topic. Once I had my notes together (over 1,500 pages), I sat down and it all unfolded as I wrote. I expected to follow a chronological approach, but found that there were many interesting themes that didn’t fit well into a simple timeline. The book therefore begins and ends chronologically but the central and largest part is thematic.

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SunLit: Are there lessons you take away from each book writing experience? And if so, what did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject?

Friesen: There are many biographies of Buffalo Bill. My goal with my books has been to discover an unexplored aspect of his life. Research is not a challenge for me; the challenge is to make the results of this research as interesting for the reader as they are for me. Food and drink fascinate most people; integrating them into the story of Buffalo Bill without losing that fascination forced me to become a better writer.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced while writing this book?

Friesen: I completed my first draft while in isolation during COVID. With plenty of time to write, I ended up with a 120,000-word manuscript. My editor at the University of Nebraska Press told me I needed to cut it down to 90,000 words. Deciding which stories and ideas I should abandon was painful, but I had help from my wife, who did quite a bit of revision, and was able to come out of the “surgery” with a better book.

SunLit: If you could pick one thing – one theme or one lesson – that readers would take away from this book, what would it be?

Friesen: Buffalo Bill, consciously and unconsciously, used food to bring people together. For him, dinner was an opportunity for dialogue and, ultimately, understanding.

SunLit: In a highly politicized atmosphere where books, and access to them, have become increasingly controversial, what would you add to the conversation about books, libraries, and, in general, the availability of literature in the public?

Friesen: Go ahead and keep trying to ban, censor and even burn books, it only makes them more desirable. Knowledge is a fire that cannot be extinguished.

SunLit: Tell us about your writing process: where and how do you write?

Friesen: I write in our guest bedroom on a folding table, surrounded by bookshelves and a nice horizontal surface (a queen-size bed) where I can spread out my notes. My most creative time is in the morning and I edit in the afternoon or evening. My handwriting is almost illegible, so I only use a computer to write. Luckily we don’t have many overnight guests.

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SunLit: Is Buffalo Bill’s reputation as a heavy drinker accurate?

Friesen: Rumors of his drunkenness have been greatly exaggerated. Like many frontiersmen, he was a heavy drinker early in his life. When he started Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, his business partner insisted that he not drink during the show season, which lasted seven months each year. For almost 30 years, he did not drink during these seven months but drank out of season. He was a social drinker and rarely indulged in “bending.” As he grew older, he drank less and less out of season, and by the time he reached his sixties, he had stopped drinking altogether. Buffalo Bill was a drinker but not a drunkard.

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Friesen: I explore the story of a Swiss folk artist who immigrated to the Mennonite farming communities of south-central Kansas in the 1890s. There, he painted murals of Switzerland on their farms; create Alps on the plains. It’s a return to my roots; I grew up in one of these communities and my first grade teacher was his daughter.

A few more quick questions

SunLit: Do you look forward to the actual work of writing or is it a chore you dread but must do to achieve good things?

Friesen: It’s a bit of both; but once I get started, it’s edifying.

SunLit: What is the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of?

Friesen: It was a required research paper during my freshman year of high school. Written during the Vietnam War era, it was an examination of the Mennonite legacy of pacifism. I got an A.

SunLit: When you think back to your early professional writing, what do you think of that? Impressed ? Embarrassed? Satisfied? Do you wish you could do it again?

Friesen: I have been writing, and occasionally getting paid, since my first submission to a church youth magazine in high school. I never had any regrets about what I wrote, but I never considered myself a professional writer.

SunLit: What three writers, from any era, can you imagine bringing together for a great discussion about literature and writing? And why?

Friesen: The philosopher and historian David Hume, because although his works are heavy and difficult to read, his ideas are fascinating. Jimmy Buffett, because he was a modern Renaissance man, whose words were creative and whose fiction was intriguing. Ernest Hemingway, because his writing is lyrical and I think it would be quite a party.

SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing?

Friesen: Ernest Hemingway: “Write drunk, edit sober.” » I don’t practice it at all but I like this idea.

SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home’s shelves tell visitors about you?

Friesen: What a history buff!

SunLit: soundtrack or silence? What audio background helps you write?

Friesen: I start the day with music but it turns off when I start writing. I prefer calm.

SunLit: What event and at what age convinced you that you wanted to become a writer?

Friesen: I remember writing a required short story when I was in middle school in English and thinking “that was fun.” I also loved diagramming sentences…what a nerd.

SunLit: Biggest fear as an author?

Friesen: Dying before I finish what I’m working on.

SunLit: The greatest satisfaction?

Friesen: Live to see it published.