National Indian Taco Championship winners, left to right, are Ramona Horsechief, Pawnee, third place; Brian Lookout, Osage, second place; and Debra Lookout, Osage, first place. Below are some photos taken from the event. PHOTO BY LISA SNELL / NATIVE AMERICAN TIMESDebra Lookout wins taco title

PAWHUSKA, Okla. – For the second time in four years, Osage Nation citizen Debra Lookout has won the National Indian Taco Championship.


Lookout, a 39-year-old licensed practical nurse with the Osage Nation Diabetes Program, won the title in 2007 and again on May 15 in downtown Pawhuska, beating 13 other contestants.
“I’m just blessed, truly blessed,” she said. “This year I knew that I had competition because everyone was talking about a guy who had salsa, homemade salsa, that was really good. So I decided I had better practice. My oldest daughter had a dream last week that I won. So I had a feeling that I would win, but I really tried different things, adding more flavor to my taco. I worked really hard and I couldn’t have done it without my kids.”
Along with her two national Indian taco victories, the Pawhuska resident has made the money in other years, taking third place in 2009 for her Indian taco and second place for her dessert taco. She also took second place in the Indian taco division back in 2005.
One reason that Lookout has enjoyed success in the five national Indian taco contests she’s competed in may be because she’s been cooking since age 9.
“My mother worked two jobs, so I had to cook for my siblings and my older siblings. I was always known as the cook in the family,” she said. She added that her cooking skills were fine-tuned by ear. “My mom never really taught me how to cook. She would tell me, but she would never really show me. She would tell me this is how you do this and this. And my dad told me, when I first wanted to cook and asked him how to cook an egg, he said, ‘You just get in there and do it.’ I always remember that. Go in there and do it, and if you mess up, do it again. So that’s how I learned how to cook – on my own.”
Lookout said the National Indian Taco Championship is the only competition she enters simply because it’s the only one she knows about. She said if there were more, she would probably compete in them.
Finishing second was fellow Osage citizen Brian Lookout, taking home $1,000, while third-place finisher Ramona Horsechief, of the Pawnee Nation, won third place and $500. Horsechief was the defending Indian taco champion having won it in 2009.
With her victory, Debra Lookout earned a $1,500 check, which she said she would spend on her daughters.
“I told my daughters I would buy them a trampoline, and we want a dog because we just bought a new home,” she said.
But oversized novelty checks isn’t the only reason Debra Lookout enters the annual Indian taco contests.
“I just enjoy making food for the people. I have a lot of the same people come back and request a taco from me. They come every year.  I also love spending time with my family, and it’s just fun.”

 

 

The top three taco makers are available for catering opportunities. Call winner Debra Lookout at (918) 287-7642. Second-place finisher Brian Lookout can be reached at (918) 504-0947. Call third-place finisher Ramona Horsechief at (405) 209-1206.