Dorinda Buck and her son-in-law Anthony Bossy work side by side inside the Manna on Wheels food truck, turning a family recipe into a community favorite.
Liz Dempsey
PABLO — Dorinda Buck has never needed a frybread recipe.
Dorinda Buck shapes frybread by hand, using a method passed down from her mother. “By the time you get to my age, you can do it blindfolded,” she says.
Liz Dempsey
Known across the Flathead Reservation for her handmade star quilts and Southern-Style Apache frybread, Buck learned to cook by feel; shaping dough with her hands, never measuring.
Buck learned from her own mother. She said you’re taught as soon as you’re old enough to be in the kitchen.
“By the time you get to my age, you can do it blindfolded,” she said.
Her siblings learned with her as well. They made everything from scratch.
“We learned to survive,” she said. “Fybread was survival food.”
Now, after decades of feeding her family and neighborhood kids, the Apache grandmother is finally running her own food truck, Manna on Wheels, a family-run venture she started this July with the help from her husband, children, and son-in-law. Together, they’re serving Buck’s frybread to a growing fan base and building something she hopes will last long after she’s gone.
“A dream I’ve had for a long time,” Buck said. “Its a family business.”
Buck has nine children and 36 grandchildren. None of them, she says, have quite matched her recipe except her son-in law, Anthony Bossy, “an islander all the way from Micronesia,” who now helps run the truck alongside her daughter, Angela Bossy.
“I couldn’t even make it that good,” Angela Bossy laughed.
Still, Buck doesn’t measure anything.
“Its just something I do with my hands, you know?” she added. “Somebody took my hand one day and measured everything; they did it, and it didn’t work out.”
The Manna on Wheels menu highlights Apache-style frybread, Indian tacos, and house-made chili and salsa.
Liz Dempsey
As the truck begins to find its rhythm at regular spots like Quick Silver parking lot, Buck is clear about what this venture really means.
“I don’t want to cry,”she said. “But when I go; I want my kids to carry on, making the frybread.”
Bossy, sitting nearby, added softly, “I could tell she just wanted something to leave behind.”
“A legacy,” Buck replied.
Buck makes many things she’s known for her star quilts but in the back of her mind, she always wanted to purchase a food truck. They traveled to Washington to buy it.
“I was supposed to buy a brand-new car,” she said. But once they found the food truck, one thing led to another and by the weekend they had to go pick it up.
Many have helped fulfill Buck’s dream; her kids, friends, and even Valley Bank.
Her frybread has a way of bringing back memories for customers. One customer told Buck the frybread reminded him of his childhood.
“Boy, this is so good,” he said. “It reminds me of when we used to be kids running around with your kids, and we would come in to go eat.”
He bought an Indian taco and returned two hours later.
“Boy, that is so good, it just brings back memories,” he said.
Buck laughed and told Chef Anthony, “If he comes back a third time, just give him one.”
They’ve had many reports of people enjoying their frybread.
“I make frybread, and it’s a different kind,” Buck said. “More of a Southern style. Apache frybread.”
Buck is from Arizona but has lived on the Flathead Indian Reservation for 50 years, where most of her children are enrolled.
Anthony Bossy, Angela’s husband, has always been a cook.
“Cooking has been my husband’s life,” she said.
They’ve been together for over 20 years. He cooks everything and has worked in many places across the reservation, including the Grey Wolf.
Anthony makes the homemade chili and salsa, always fresh.
“I see so many salsa makers. They make it watery. I like to make it chunky,” he said.
He’s a natural who enjoys cooking. When asked where he learned, he said, “That’s a good question. I’m an Islander. I cooked fish all the time.”
“I really enjoy learning,” he said. As he continued working in different restaurants, he learned and shared skills that helped make him an better chef.
“I just learned along the way,” he said. “I enjoy cooking.”
“When I go on a trip, my kids start freaking out,” he said. It’s a bummer for them not to have their dad’s cooking.
They had a couple of name ideas for the food truck, such as “Flatches,” short for Flathead and Apache, or “Gram Slam,” a nickname Buck’s grandkids use for her. But ultimately they chose Manna on Wheels.
Buck wanted something biblical because of her faith. The story of manna in the Book of Exodus tells how God miraculously provided food for the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert after being freed from slavery in Egypt. Manna, a bread-like substance, appeared on the ground.
Manna is used throughout the Bible with symbolic meanings, such as dependence on God, spiritual nourishment, miraculous provision, and faith during hardship.
“The frybread is like manna,” she said.
Buck thanked Valley Bank for helping them with the purchase.
As of now, Manna on Wheels can be found in the Quick Silver parking lot on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. until they sell out. They plan to be there on Thursdays as well and eventually expand to other locations. Quick Silver will remain their consistent spot for Tuesdays and Thursdays in the future.
They intend to add more items to the menu in the future.
Dining and Cooking