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 American Native Food
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(Beans from
Veg
Kitchen, Squash from California Condor)
For many Indigenous People
in the Americas,
this
triad is called the Three Sisters:
Corn,
or Maize, Beans and Squash.
Although this food trinity has a variety of names
among Native People,
these three staples remain the heart of most Indigenous diets.
An interesting fact about this
Food Trio is that
they are all interdependent on
one another.
Beans grow up the Corn stalks
and add the nutrients
(Nitrogen) to the soil that the
others need to grow.
Squash is planted in between
them to keep weeds out.
All three of these foods
originally came from the
Indigenous People of Mexico,
Central and South America,
then slowly made their way
North to our Native People.
A press release announcing
recent winners from the Kellogg Foundation:
First Nations Awards $375,000 to 10 Native Food-System Projects
A new page about what makes us
who we are:
Native
Health Issues
A brief History of
American Native Food
American Natives were
reasonably healthy before the European Invasions.
They lived on the land and in
some areas cultivated rich soils and grew crops.
For the Bison hunting Nations
that were always on the move,
their diets were mixtures of
the meat that they hunted and the
plants, berries and fruits that
were found everywhere that they went.
This country was a bountiful
place hundreds of years ago
and Native people survived
quite nicely.
After the Invasions, everything
changed and none of it was good for Natives.
Those who were sent to
Reservations starved many times.
Food meant for them often ended
up in the hands of unscrupulous agents,
who dispersed the supplies to
themselves, their families and friends.
Or just outright sold it for
profit.
The Native people in the East
were the first to be affected
by the European outsiders
and their gluttony.
The vast natural and developed
Native food supplies
were quickly devoured by the
new people.
Although saved from
starvation by the generosity of Natives,
these greedy ones were
convinced that this wondrous
new land was theirs to
take and use as they pleased,
calling it their Manifest
Destiny.
When the food supplies in the
East began running out,
the invaders started moving West.
All across the country, the
long Wagon Trains of Pioneers
wiped out the natural food
sources along the way.
Like Locust, they decimated
everything in their path.
As for farming among Native
Nations, it became quite difficult
to grow or hunt just
ahead of oncoming settlers or an Army.
In the Great Plains, the Natives who refused to go
to
Reservations were a little better off, for a while.
But, once the Railroads were in
place and Buffalo Bill Cody
and others killed off nearly the
entire Bison population,
there was little food
left for the Plains People.
Until the land and Gold Rushes
of the 1800's,
most Native People in the far
West and Northwest
still had adequate natural food
sources.
*A personal note*
My People, the Shawnee, were
considered very good farmers.
When they arrived at the
Reservation in Kansas, the Governor
remarked that the Shawnee were
the best farmers that he had ever seen.
What he didn't know was that
before they were shipped off to Kansas,
the Shawnee from the Ohio
Valley area had learned many techniques
from the local Amish farmers
who admired them and even hid many
of them after the great
Shawnee leader Tecumseh was killed.
American Native Food
Today
Today, American Natives need
only travel to their nearest
grocery store to find an
abundance of food.
Many Natives do still grow some
of their own food,
raising geographically relevant crops
that help to
sustain their
people through the hard times.
Corn, beans and squash are
still grown by many Nations,
however, very few Native people
are successful commercial
farmers as they lack the
investment capital to get started.
**Your responses to this
statement are quite encouraging,
but please do contact the
Tribal Nations directly if you
are interested in investing
in Native Farming**
A List of Federally Recognized Tribes
Federally Recognized Tribes
Southwestern Nations, like the
Navajo and Hopis
use the Ancient
irrigation methods of their
Ancestors to grow a
colorful collection of corn.
These Natives harvest cactus, plant vegetables and
chilies
and raise sheep which are
rarely eaten, but provide the
abundance of wool used for
their beautiful woven rugs.
Historically, California
Natives were unlike most others,
they did not grow much of
anything to eat, they didn't have to,
it was already there, all they
had to do was take it.
The insulting title of
"diggers" was given to these Natives,
by outsiders who observed them
frequently digging in the dirt.
The state was rich in
nutritious wild roots, bulbs and insects
and thousands of
California Natives lived very well on the
multitude of Fruits, Wild Game, Nuts, Roots
and Berries.
Today, with little good land
left to raise crops, many Tribes
have built Casinos
instead to help support their People.
Several Southern Nations like the
Seminoles of Florida,
and the Mississippi Band of
Choctaws, have Casinos,
raise Cattle and grow a
variety of food crops.
Some Tribes in Minnesota
harvest wild rice
and other related food
products both to
share with their own people and
also to sell.
Natives in Northern Plains
States, like North and
South Dakota, Idaho and
Montana are raising cattle,
while trying to forge a new
future for their children
by tapping into the Renewable Energy
market with
Wind Turbines and Solar
Power.
The Northwest Nations of
Washington and
Oregon raise Salmon and grow
Berries and Grapes
and also have geothermal
potential.
The New England Nations have a
wide variety of Shellfish,
Corn, Maple Syrup and wonderful varieties of
Apples,
Pears, Grapes, Berries, including an
abundance of
Cranberries in Massachusetts.
Many Tribes also grow tobacco and
cotton,
but as they are not food, they were not
counted among the
Native Nations crops.
Native Owned Food
Businesses
If you are an
American Native
or Nation with a food business,
please send me your information to be listed on this page:
tahtonka at centurylink.net
The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of
South Dakota.
Lakota Foods
White Earth Reservation of
Minnesota offers a variety
of wild rice products, maple
syrup, organic coffee,
jams and jellies and many
non food products.
Native Harvest Foods
The Skeet Family of Gallup, New
Mexico sell
Native American Traditional
Foods.
Navajo Designs
The Ojibwa people of Red Lake
Minnesota who not
only grow wild rice, but now
ship it all over the world.
Red Lake Nation Foods
Disclaimer
* tahtonka.com has no personal knowledge nor connection to any of
these businesses.*
American Native Food
Web Sites:
A Pyramid of
American Native foods.
An American Native Food Guide Pyramid
How the
Plains People provided food for themselves.
The Luxton Museum of the Plains People
Indian Health Services
Native American Resources: Food and Nutrition
American Native Recipes
American Native Recipes
Cherokees of California Cookbook
The Cooking Post
Cookin' with Three Sisters
Native Recipes from Paula Geise
Native Web Resources:
Food
Navajo and Pueblo Native Fry Bread
Pemmican: Recipes, Stories and Stores
Recipe Source: American Native Recipes
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to tahtonka.com
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Last edited April 7, 2019
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