Native American Food

[alexis lee]

Does anyone know anything about Native American cuisine? I'm interested in learning more about what foods were grown and used, how they were prepared- what cooking methods were used.

Thanks!

[ronnie_suburban]

I'm not sure this is really a Heartland-specific topic. I used the site-wide 'search' function to look for threads titles containing the word native and several threads came up.

My results

I hope that helps.

=R=

[bandregg]

The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian museum in Washington D.C. has a cafe which specializes in American Indain foods from a number of different regions: Pacific Northwest, Great Plains, etc. They may have information that's useful to you.

[srhcb]

Other than the obvious wild game, (bison, deer, bear, water fowl, grouse and pheasants), the only unique Native American product I can think of from this region is wild rice.

I have posted several times on the subject in different threads. Try entering it into the 'search' function, or send me a PM.

SB (looks like a great crop this year )(*knock* on wood)

Edited July 11, 2006 by srhcb (log)

[Laurie Woolever]

I was at the Fancy Food Show in New York yesterday and picked up some information from the Flathead Native Agricultural Cooperative, a small group of Native American ranchers who raise and cure their meats, apparently, based on the foodways of their ancestors. They don't have a website but their phone number is 406 676 0399 (they're based in Montana).

Good luck with your research-

Edited July 11, 2006 by Laurie Woolever (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

Welcome to the eGullet Society, Alexis.

The topic of Native American foodways potentially includes a rather large geographical area: at least Canada to Mexico and Pacific coast to Atlantic coast, though you could extend that to Central and South America. Were you asking specifically about tribes in the "Heartland" states or is your interest broader?

[lperry]

Hi Alexis-

To acquire the information you need, you will want to try to get access to academic journals, possibly through your local library. The field of archaeobotany is very well developed in your area, and you can find comprehensive information on native food plants that were exploited by indigenous groups prior to European contact. These would include maygrass, goosefoot, sumpweed, sunflower, amaranth greens, purslane (see recent thread), and eventually, the "three sisters" of maize, beans, and squash. Hickory nuts and acorns were a common winter stored staple, etc. etc. (This is a very abbreviated list.) Cooking methods are not so well studied because they are difficult to reconstruct, but the ethnobotanical and archaeobotanical literature is a good place to start, and I'll suggest the journal Economic Botany as a jumping off point.

Good luck!

-L

[moosnsqrl]

I have a framed poster on my office wall "Contributions of Native Americans - Edibles." It was published by William Rieske, Historic Indian Publishers of SLC, UT - I'll leave it to the academicians and/or historians on the boards to weigh-in on the reliability of that source - I just bought the poster because I liked it. In any case, pictured and listed on it are the following foods:

squash, pumpkins, melons, peanuts, papaya, turnips, beets, mushrooms, strawberries, blackberries, raspberry, loganberry, persimmons, cherries, elderberries, chokecherries, grapes, cucumbers, tapioca, wintergreen, buckwheat, maple syrup, wild rice, vanilla, sassafrass, beans (green, wide pod, yellow, dried varieties), paprika, red pepper, cocoa, maple sugar, pistacho nuts, sunflower seeds, cashew nuts, pine nuts, cranberries, pimentos, bay leaves, blueberries, huckleberries, tobacco, sapadilla, prickly pear, hops, palm and palmetto, gooseerry, edible gourds, light walnut, black walnut, hickory nut, chestnut, beechnut, pecan, crab apple, avocados, corn/maize/popcorn, potatoes, peppers, sweet potato/yam, tomatoes.

Whew. Thanks, Native Americans!