American West Program at Colorado State University Features Restaurateur and Historic Food Guru June 27

A food historian, journalist, world traveler and raconteur will discuss buffalo as an important food source in a talk June 27 as part of the American West Program at Colorado State University.

Sam Arnold, owner of The Fort restaurant in Morrison, Colo., is a nationally recognized authority on foods of the Southwest and early West. In 1997, he hosted President Bill Clinton’s state dinner with international leaders during the World Leaders Summit of the Eight Conference in Denver. He also has addressed – and prepared a buffalo dinner for – the James Beard Foundation in New York City and was keynote speaker for a symposium on American cuisine in Santa Fe, N.M.

Arnold is author of "Eating Up the Santa Fe Trail," "The Fort Cookbook: New Foods of the Old West from the Famous Denver Restaurant" and "Frying Pans West."

The theme of this year’s American West Program, "The Buffalo: An American Icon," will be explored weekly through July by historians visiting from throughout the nation.

A visit by Bob Palmer, retired Denver television newscaster and anchor, will highlight the program on July 5. Palmer will discuss "The Buffalo Boondoggle of 1872: A Visit to Colorado by Gen. George Custer and the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia."

In conjunction with the American West Program, the Curfman Gallery in the Lory Student Center is presenting "Images of the West" by artist Bob Coonts. Call 491-6444 for gallery and student center hours. Following is a schedule of events for the American West Program. All talks except for the July 5 event take place on Tuesdays. The talks begin at 7:30 p.m. in Room C146 Plant Sciences Building and are free and open to the public.

For more information, call Harry Rosenberg , coordinator of the American West Program, at 491-5230.

• June 27 – "The Buffalo: A Millennial Entree," Sam Arnold, owner, The Fort restaurant, Morrison.
• July 5 – "The Buffalo Boondoggle of 1872," Bob Palmer, retired television newscaster and anchor.
• July 11 – "The Return of the American Bison," Harold Danz, retired National Park Service administrator and executive director of the American Bison Association.
• July 18 – "When I was a boy, I wanted to be like Buffalo Bill: Now that I’m older, I still want to be Buffalo Bill," Tom Morrison, superintendent of Buffalo Bill Ranch Historical Park, North Platte, Neb.
• July 25 – "The Importance of the Buffalo in Plains Indian Religion and Culture," JoAllyn Archambault, member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and director of the American Indian Program at the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution.