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A Brief History of Native American Foods

The smell of nuts and roasted maize? Wow, it’s Native American food. An appetizing meal of deer meat and wild rice along with fresh salads. There are more to add to the flavor, corn, squash, beans, berries and pumpkins. An endless list of mouth watering American native food. Just too much to resist the temptation. Just smell the names. Don’t they seem fresh and natural? Yes, they do and this is why American native foods are so special and palatable.

The predominance of corn is quite customary in case of American Indian foods. Apart from corn, the natives also make use of what is known as Harinilla or Blue Corn. Meal Harinilla was in most cases ground into flour and utilized for baking tortillas and other starches. Meat of deer was the hot favorite of these Indian American people. Nevertheless, they were also quite excited about rabbits, prairie dog, beaver, lamb, buffalo, mutton, and pork. Are your eyes sparkling and your hearts craving to taste a bit of these exotic delicacies? Quite natural, it should sound appetizing to you.

Where do we usually see a cactus? In deserts of course. But cactus being a part of a traditional diet indeed sounds quite unusual. However, it really did help in making a palatable dish along with wild grains, sage and cabbage. But have you ever heard of a diet comprising herbs? Yes, the Native Americans did have herbal diets because most of the earliest forms of medicines were derivatives of herbal food sources. The herbal plants used by the natives were mostly Peppermint, Spearmint, Clover, Sage, and Rosehips and these were used for making teas and other foods.

The Native Americans were renowned for their variety of food items. Pineapples, avocados, chocolate, chilies, tomatoes, and peanuts – Wow! Don’t they sound Yummy? Native Americans were always passionate about growing wild and domesticated plants. Their experiment with nature resulted in some wonderful and exquisite food varieties. From New York to Ohio River valley, the native inhabitants gathered a wide collection of fruits (grapes, plums, thorn apples, bearberries, cherries, blackberries, blueberries, elderberries, sumac berries) and nuts (acorns, butternuts, hickory nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, and beechnuts). Moreover, the Iroquois ceremonial cycle included a special festive event known as strawberry festival. This festival was held to commemorate and celebrate the growth of small, new and wild strawberries, which indicated the arrival of the spring season. In contemporary times too, the juice of strawberries are drunk with great pleasure in most Iroquois communities.

Seeds, too formed an integral part of Native American diet. Seeds were mainly preferred for their exceptional nutritive value. In the nineteenth century, the group of Native Americans enjoyed themselves while collecting the first shoots of dandelions, milkweed, pokeweed, lamb's quarters, mustard, dock, and watercress. These were parboiled and then cooked with meats and spices. Squashes and gourds (Cucurbita pepo) were mainly grown in the Southwest region of the land. Tepary beans were being extensively cultivated as an essential source of protein.

Fish too formed an important part of the Native American diet. Salmon, halibut fillets, lobsters, clams and mussels were the preferred choices of the natives. The Indian American occupants ate deer, wild geese, gar, crabs, bass and squid. Sources of fat were innumerable. It was primarily used for seasoning and to impart some texture to the food. Fats were obtained from bears, rich hump meat of buffalo, whales and seals of the northwest coast.

Nature always supplies in abundance. However, you have to decide how to make use of the profusion in the rightful way. The Indian American dwellers too had a perfect sense of growing edible crops and plants. Especially those living in the northwest part of North America indulged in the cultivation of sunflowers in association with their tubers known as Jerusalem artichokes. They also grew sumpweed, goosefoot , maygrass and giant ragweed.

A diet cannot be complete without a sugary touch. Therefore, to make food sweet the American Indians made use of wild honey, dried and fresh fruits and maple. Food is a sign of a particular culture and age. What you produce, the way you cook and the manner by which you serve your food reflects your taste and ethnicity. When judged from this perspective, Native American food deserves special mention.

Article by: Joseph Paige © 2006 - Email

From the pages of: Native Languages of the Americas

Navajo Fry Bread & Indian Taco Recipe
By: Cynthia Detterick-Pineda

NAVAJO FRY BREAD RECIPE

Fry bread is wonderfully lumpy (puffed here and there). It can be served as a dessert or used as a main dish bread. Our family will often take them and stuff them, much like one might use bread or tortilla to dip into their food.

1 cup unbleached flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup water
Vegetable oil for frying

Sift together the flour, salt, powdered milk, and baking powder into a large bowl.
Pour the water over the flour mixture all at once and stir the dough with a fork until it starts to form one big clump.
Flour your hands. Using your hands, begin to mix the dough, trying to get all the flour into the mixture to form a ball. NOTE: You want to mix this well, but you do NOT want to knead it. Kneading it will make for a heavy Fry Bread when cooked. The inside of the dough ball should still be sticky after it is formed, while the outside will be well floured.
Cut the dough into four (4) pieces. Using your floured hands, shape, stretch, pat, and form a disk of about 5 to 7 inches in diameter. NOTE: Don’t worry about it being round. As Grandma Felipa would say “it doesn’t roll into your mouth.”
Heat the vegetable oil to about 350 degrees F. NOTE: You can check by either dropping a small piece of dough in the hot oil and seeing if it begins to fry, or by dipping the end of a wooden spoon in and seeing if that bubbles. Your oil should be about 1-inch deep in a large cast-iron skillet or other large fryer.
Take the formed dough and gently place it into the oil, being careful not to splatter the hot oil.
Press down on the dough as it fries so the top is submersed into the hot oil.
Fry until brown, and then flip to fry the other side.
Each side will take about 3 to 4 minutes.
Indian Fry Bread can be kept warm in a 200 degree F. oven for up to 1 hour.
They refrigerate well and can be reheated in a 350 degree F. oven for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

INDIAN TACO RECIPE

1 pound lean ground meat (beef, lamb, venison or pork)
1 cup diced onion
4 cooked Navajo Fry Breads (see recipe above)
1 head lettuce, shredded
3 tomatoes, diced
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (3-ounce) can diced green chile peppers, drained
Sour cream (optional)
Beans or Chili with Beans may also be added and cooked as usual. Amount depends on the overall quanity within this recipe to be made.

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, brown ground meat and onions until cooked; remove from heat.
Place Fry Bread, cupped side up, on separate plates.
Layer ground meat, (add beans or chili w/beans here if desired), lettuce, tomatoes, Cheddar cheese, and green chiles onto top of each Fry Bread and top with sour cream, if desired, and either roll up or serve open-faced with a fork. (Some people just like to eat them with their hands).
This recipe makes about 4 servings.

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If you would like to submit your own Native American Recipe to this page please send it to: Submit My Recipe and we will place it for you. Remember to include all the necessary information as to ingrediants, preparation, cooking and serving. Also, don't forget your name and if possible a brief history of your recipe or dish.

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