Lois ellen frank, ph.d.
As the American West experiences more drought and wildfires and as the polar ice caps melt at record speeds, we are in a time now, as Joseph Brophy Toledo, a cultural leader and elder from Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, so eloquently states, where “we are all Earth People.” Toledo says, “In order for any of us to work towards health and wellness in any of our communities, we need to work together as caretakers and stewards of our Mother Earth.”
So how do all of the “Earth People” do this? How do Native American communities do this? How does pertinent information get passed down from one generation to another? These are the questions that we all need to ask ourselves. What role do you want to play in this? How can each of us be of service? What can we do to ensure that the Earth, our Mother, can sustain us for the next seven generations?
Nate Lemuel
Get the recipe:Three Sisters Stew
The answer is not an easy one. Nor is there one way to do this. I like to use the analogy of the bicycle wheel. History, or a version of history, is in the middle. But how to tell the story of that history is different depending on what perspective you are telling it from. And, just like all the spokes on the wheel, there are differing perspectives of the same historical event depending on who you are and where you come from. Therefore, history is subjective, not objective. Yet in order to re-indigenize Native American cuisine, it is important to understand what happened and why the cuisine changed over time.
Leadership through Traditional Ecological Knowledge
The Four Periods of Native American Cuisine
Over time, Native American cuisine has evolved through four distinct periods—Pre-Contact, First Contact, Government Issue and New Native American cuisine. Each of these periods brought about changes to the diets of Indigenous people, some positive, others negative. In some instances, Traditional Ecological Knowledge was disrupted and pertinent information not passed down, particularly when Native people were forcibly relocated from their ancestral homelands and Native American children were forcibly removed from their homes and into boarding schools, where they weren’t permitted to speak their languages or practice their traditional customs. Even with all of these historical traumas, Native American elders and cultural leaders have found ways to pass on vital information, and this is part of the leadership through traditional ecological knowledge. Understanding what happened to the Indigenous diet helps Native community members reclaim and re-indigenize their diets.
The Pre-Contact Period
It only takes one generation for a song, story, belief, recipe or process surrounding food and foodways to disappear.
This historical food period is crucial to the health and wellness of future generations, and it is vital that the knowledge surrounding all of the foods, plants and animals, and information on how to use them, be passed down. It only takes one generation for a song, story, belief, recipe or process surrounding food and foodways to disappear if not passed down to the next generation.
First Contact
Get the recipe:Salmon with Chokecherry-Citrus Sauce
Government Issue
The third period, which I callGovernment Issue,began in the mid- to late 1800s and is the most problematic. This was when the U.S. government forcibly relocated Native Americans onto Indian reservations. For instance, the Trail of Tears displaced people from tribes including the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole from their Southeastern ancestral homelands to “Indian Territory,” or what is now the state of Oklahoma, from 1830 to 1850. (Other Native American communities had their own trails of tears that are not as well known.)
This made for a devastating and tremendous loss of traditional lands—lands that were once used to forage wild plants on, to fish and hunt on, and to cultivate gardens and grow crops on. Once forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands, these displaced Native communities were issued food rations that included flour, lard, coffee, sugar and canned meat. There was just enough to not starve, but never enough to not feel hungry. And this is where some of the health disparities that we see now in Native communities began. Health issues that had never been a part of Native lifeways stemmed from foods that were forced onto and into the Native American diet.
Get the recipe:Grilled Cactus Pad Salad with Oranges & Raspberry Vinaigrette
New Native Cuisine
Presently, we’re in a period which I callNew Native Cuisine. In this diverse time, Native chefs are doing what feels right to them. Some are using foods only from the Pre-Contact period, while others are innovatively combining foods from all periods. I like to say that this period is the period where Native communities are going back to the past to move forward to the future. Today, Native Americans are choosing what foods they want on their own plates.
Get the recipe:Seneca White Corn No-Bake Energy Balls
We are witnessing a reclamation, revitalization and re-indigenization of ancestral Native American foods and foodways.
Let’s Eat
In the recipes that follow, you’ll see how Chef Walter Whitewater, who is Navajo (Diné), combined foods that his people survived on during the tragic Long Walk of the Navajo, called Hwéeldi, with one of the introduced foods from the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and foods he had growing up, to make hisGrilled Cactus Pad Salad with Oranges & Raspberry Vinaigrette.
Kaylena Bray, who is Seneca from Cattaraugus Territory in Western New York along Lake Erie, shares how to turn sacred Seneca white corn intoSeneca White Corn No-Bake Energy Bites(yum!). Kaylena and her parents, Dave and Wendy Bray, have shared these sacred white corn seeds with The Cultural Conservancy, and it now grows in Marin County in Northern California.
Chefs Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater.Nate Lemuel
My recipe for aNative American parfaitfeatures blue and white cornmeal cooked with culinary ash—a primary source of calcium in Native American communities—is layered with a mixed berry and apple compote. I’m also sharing a Three Sisters Stew, featuring corn, beans and squash. Chef Walter and I frequently prepare this recipe at hands-on trainings for food service staff through our partnership with New Mexico Department of Health’s Obesity, Nutrition and Physical Activity Program, the Aging and Long-Term Services Department and the Office of Indian Elder Affairs. These trainings focus on using ancestral Native American ingredients that are healthy and easily accessible to the staff, so that they can provide meals to the elders in their tribal communities.
Today is a time that is not only exciting but also empowering for Native communities. And I believe that everyone can play a role in this re-indigenizing movement and the health and wellness of all people. The time for a sustainable future is now. The time for reclaiming and revitalizing indigenous foods and foodways for Native American community members is now. What can you do? You can buy ingredients from Native American producers and growers to support these efforts and the Native American foods movement overall—from hand-harvested wild rice, Native-grown tepary beans, culinary ash and blue cornmeal to teas, soaps and natural beauty products. Get involved and become part of the Earth People’s movement for the health and wellness of not only all of our community members but also of our Mother Earth.
Get the recipe:Corn Pudding & Apple-Berry Parfaits
Credits
Writers:Lois Ellen Frank, Kaylena Bray, Melissa K. Nelson and Walter Whitewater
Photography:Nate Lemuel,Darklisted Photography
Visuals & Design:Maria Emmighausen & Cassie Basford
Special Thanks:Dr. Mackenzie Price, Jessica Migala, Wendy Ruopp, Anne Treadwell, Victoria Seaver, Penelope Wall, Beth Stewart, Jim Sheetz, Alex Loh and the entire staff ofEatingWell.
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