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I was thinking about this. Is there a place you can go and try the actual food the Indians ate before European colonization? I don't know an answer to that question, but after doing a bit of reading and viewing, I realize I've already eaten a lot of Indian food. I saw a video online of a Cherokee restaurant, and it had a lot of down-home cooking.Apparently, Europeans did not have a lot of the beans we eat nowadays. Green beans and kidney beans are a New World crop. The Europeans didn't have lima beans either. Many beans are New World crops. They had fava beans, lintels, and several others. Many Indian tribes lived primarily on 'the three sisters', corn, beans, and squash. Many squash varieties are from the New World. Corn (maize) is a New World crop.Some of the Indian tribes, among the 'civilized tribes' in the eastern part of the US, like the Cherokee, farmed corn and ate a harder version of corn bread. I am from the southeast and I grew up eating corn, green beans, corn bread, and we had some squash in our diet but it wasn't a major thing. Cucumbers are gourds and they are European, and we ate a lot of those.My grandmother ate corn and beans out of her garden every day. The bacon grease in it is a European thing, since Europeans introduced the pig to the Americas. She ate corn bread a lot, too, a version of Indian food, you could say, along with biscuits made from European crops. So I grew up eating a mix of Indian food and European food. Much of 'down home' cuisine is made from Indian food. Bell peppers and hot chili peppers are from the New World as well. As far as how they actually cooked it in pre-colonial times, I don't know if we can know that for sure or not. Indians are known for eating fry bread, but I think that was a later development, like from when the Cherokee were given government supplies to eat on the Trail of Tears. It would be interesting to know if they did something similar with corn flower

I grew up in an area with a majority Athabaskan population. When they had traditional Native dishes, it seemed to be Moose Stew and smoked salmon strips. They probably have a million ways to prepare moose and salmon, but those two dishes were always present. You can travel to Alaska-Land in Fairbanks and participate in a traditional Native American salmon bake. There must be similar offerings in other parts of the country with Native American populations http://areyoureadyfortherapture.blogspot.com/

Dan Eason,I'd imagine in those parts, there are some traditional native recipes. I don't know if the same is true of the Cherokee and other groups that had a bit more cultural influence from the Europeans. Spending time being shipped between reservations with European food items as supplies could influence cuisine.It sounds like the food would be good. I like salmon, but I've never had moose. Does it taste like white tailed deer? What do they put in the moose stew besides moose?Btw, if there are two of them, do we call them meese

I have never thought about American Indian food too much. But I will now. We travel a lot and I like to eat the popular food in the area whether it be another state or country.Funny while in Hawaii we went to a Luau The cooked the pig in the ground, we got to see them remove it and carried it off. The announcer said we would now be served a pig that was cooked inside and according to 'local health rules.' I was disappointed. I guess in the winter the Indian survived off dried meat or fresh meat and nuts, no veggies. Unless they were drying the veggies....Good subject... Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]://shipslog-jack.blogspot.com/

Seriousl

One of my professor's said that, after conquering what is now Mexico City, when the Spanish introduced pork, it was popular because it tasted like human flesh, but not quite as salty. He said they used to sell the meat of the human sacrifices in the market. He said they bred chihuahuas as a meat source they could eat in the city.I'd prefer Mexican food with beef or pork to those two other meat alternatives. Aside from meat choices, the Mejico could have had some pretty interesting food. I'm imagining the beans and tortillas and peppers. Europeans would have brought the onions and cheese and some new meat sources. I'd agree with you that the Euro-Indian mix is probably a lot better. There may be a lot of relatively 'pure' native foods in some parts of Latin America and way up north. I suspect the 'civilized tribes' of the eastern US and the plains tribes foods to have been influenced by European influence just as their food influenced the settlers. Especially when the US government put Indians on reservations and they had to US 'white men's food sources for a long time in a different region from where they lived, and after children were raised in special boarding schools apart from parents after the Indians lost battles and things like that. It would be hard to keep the food culture pure. But why would they want to? European settlers apparently liked corn, green beans, and various squashes enough to start growing them. They knew they would grow in the climates they lived in because the Indians had success with them. European food changed, too. Potatoes are from South America. The Europeans didn't have them before Columbus. It enabled a lot of population growth. Burning enemy crops didn't wipe out all the potatoes like it did for grain. And you can only eat so many turnips before you get sick of them.Discovering the Americas was a cullinary blessing the world: peppers, varieties of beans, potatoes, and pineapples came from the Americas. Imagine living in a world where you had to eat beans a lot, but there were no green beans? I heard Korean food didn't have red pepper until the 1500' when the Portuguese introduced it. Some of those Asian cuisines would have been quite different without peppers. For the Indians that survived, European food was probably a blessing to many of them, too. I'd definitely want cheese on my fajitas

I've lived where they lived. And, as a kid, pretended to be one. Finding a feather was cause to tie a band around my head and stick the feather in it. We used sticks and strings for bows and arrows and little homemade cloth knapsacks for quivers. We found their projectile points.(these are some I found)We tried most any wild plant we knew was edible (and possibly some that weren't).I'm sure deer was an important food source for Native Americans who lived in this area. I've eaten deer. I've eaten quite a few hickory nuts and persimmons in my time (native plants). My understanding is that the Native Americans didn't try to pick out each tiny little nutmeat of the hickory nut, but just smashed a whole slew of the nuts, boiled them, nuts, meats, and all, and skimmed off the resultant nut butter that rose to the top of the pot.I've eaten cattail and turkey pea and Saskatoon berries (which we called currants, a misnomer--other folks called them service berry or sarvisberry), wild blueberries, wild rose hips, black haw, and lots and lots of blackberries.I've also mistakenly eaten wintergreen root thinking it was what Daddy told us was turkey pea. That definitely left an impression on me!I've eaten acorns. I was relieved to know the Native Americans had figured out how to leach the tannins out of the acorns so they wouldn't taste so bitter. Acorns were probably a significant source of food for the Native Americans. They leached the acorns in streams, dried them, and pounded them into flour.I think the Native Americans also used pine needles for tea which is high in vitamin C. I don't think I've ever tried that, but I'm sure I've tasted the needles and bark. Not particularly palatable, if you ask me. I've eaten the seeds that came out of the pine cone, the seed inside beggar lice, and Sunflower seeds. I've also eaten pigweed seeds, which is basically a type of amaranth. I used to read a cartoon which always associated pemmican (dried meat ground up and mixed with fat and dried berries) with the Native Americans. I've also read that in some places pumpkins were grown more for their seeds than flesh. I'm sure the seeds are higher in calories which would have been seen as a positive thing. I've never had pemmican, but I have eaten pumpkin seeds.Just last week, I had natural maple syrup that my brother had made (from sugar maples here in NC), though that was probably more common with the Native Americans in the Northeast. (And I've taken a lick of red maple sap straight from the tree.)

My Grandmother was Chickasaw and lived in Oklahoma. She was a great cook. You can see some of the recipes that the Chickasaws used. Here is one. Fry Bread and Fried Pork (Paskawaalhaaki', Shokha' Nipi' Awaalhahli')Fry bread is a delicious flour-based side dish. Dough is rolled into balls, then flattened out to about the size of an open hand and dropped into hot oil. Fry bread is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It is used as the base of the very popular Indian Taco, which can be experienced in the Aaimpa' Café at the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur.Pigs were not native to the homelands but were introduced to Chickasaws by conquistador Hernando de Soto. After de Soto wore out his welcome, Chickasaws raided his camp under the cover of darkness and routed his troops. During the melee many pigs were captured by Chickasaw warriors and many simply escaped into the woods. Pork became a favorite dish.Fry Bread Recipe:2 cups sifted flour1/2 teaspoon salt4 teaspoon baking powder1 egg1/2 cup warm water or milkSift first three ingredients together and stir in beaten egg. Add water or milk to make soft dough. Round up on lightly floured cloth or bread board. Knead lightly. Roll or pat out 1/2 inch thick. Cut into strips about 2 x 3 inches and slit center. Drop into deep fat. Brown on both sides. Serve hot. Good with pinto beans, stew or syrup.http://www.chickasaw.net/Our-Nation/Culture/Foods.aspx

Imma thinking that that was a diet meat, since they are so little, the chihuahuas, that is.I am enjoying this post Link. I knew Bonnie was a 'naturalist' I just didn't know how far that lady went. Lots of that stuff I did not know and most I have not eaten.Also old FamousF shows a new side, I like that. the fry bread sounds good.But to be honest the chihuahuas don't appeal to me, alive nor cooked.RR said he ate dog, I hear it is good, but I was wondering whose dog he ate? Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]://shipslog-jack.blogspot.com/

Now I do like that Southern COG native food, the HOT DOG! Normally served after YPE and prayer meetings by the LWWB! Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]://shipslog-jack.blogspot.com/