More Native American Contributions http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs141p2_024206.pdf The contributions cover a wide spectrum of American culture. It is most important that children be made aware of such information not only to erase generalizations, but also to make them aware of the importance of the Native American in the historical and contemporary settling of American. 60% of the present world’s food supply comes from the American Indians’ agriculture, primarily consisting of corn and the so-called “Irish” potatoes. Poducts like Cotton and Rubber are invaluable. Thousands of American Indian names dot our maps in states, cities, counties, lakes, mountains and rivers, and hundreds of Indian names are used as trade names for modern manufactured products, etc. FOODS Corn Popcorn Wild rice Bean (14 varieties) Squash Pumpkins Cranberries Maple sugar and syrup Potatoes (white and sweet) Turkeys Clam bakes Pemmican Jerky Tomatoes Pineapples Avocado Tapioca (Manioc) Chocolate (Cacao) Peanuts Chewing gum Vanilla Wild rice PRODUCTS Canoe Tobaggan Snow shoes Moccasins Tipi Kayak Fringed buckskin jacket Coonskin caps Mukluks Lacrosse Cradle boards (baby carriers) Tomahawk Tobacco Cigars Pipe smoking Cotton Rubber Quinine
Here is a recipe for fried bread. My family use to eat this when I was a child, but then came along the food police. Now I eat tortillas instead when and if I eat any kind of bread.
@Lara Moss, those info you are posting are truly interesting. I'm sure I'm not the only one who hasn't heard of Indian Pudding until you posted it. And that photo of grilling fish is amusing because our natives in the mountains cook like that and that style of cooking is still practiced in some parts of our country. With regards to food, what I want to know is the buffalo (or do you call it bison?). In one movie that I saw when I was a girl, there were the cowboys on their horses who were chased by some Indians with the help of a herd of buffalo. My impression of the buffalo is that they are vicious like those used in bullfights. But my father said that the buffalo has an edible meat like the beef that we have here.
Yes, Buffalo, also known as Bison is considered to be a very good beef in restaurants. I tasted a Bison Burger once and I thought it was too dry. It's very lean so that's why. It also costs more than other beef. The Indians also ate Venison (deer meat) and Moose. I noticed in my search today that they would make jellied moose which sounds disgusting to me. The First Thanksgiving the Indians had with the Pilgrims used Venison (no turkey according to History Channel link below). They didn't have Pumpkin Pie either. Potatoes hadn't been introduced yet. They had corn, fowl, beans, nuts, barley, maybe stuffed Portabello mushrooms, cranberries (without added sugar…maybe used maple syrup), wild rice, squash, Jerky, Tapioca, Tomatoes, etc Bet You Didn't Know this about the "First Thanksgiving": History Channel... http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/first-thanksgiving-meal
Buffalo are not vicious; however, they are a wild animal, and a very large one, and can be extremely dangerous. Some places now raise buffalo, and there aren't really any more that are just wild and roaming the plains, like they did in the olden days. In Montana, near Flathead Lake, is the National Bison Range, and it is a huge section of land where great herds of buffalo live basically like they would in the wild. Every year they have a weekend trail ride in the Buffalo Range, or at least they used to, and I was able to go on the ride many years ago. We would camp out overnight near Rivalli, Montana, and the cowboys would come with their guitars and we all sat around the campfire and sang cowboy songs. A cafe nearby served bufflao burgers and buffalo steaks. As @Lara Moss mentioned, the meat is rather dry, because of the lack of fat on a buffalo, and the meat is also pretty expensive. We tried a buger, since that was about the most affordable way to see what it was like. The next morning, we all set out on our horses and rode into the mountains , and as we rode along, we could see the herds of buffalo far below us in the valley. When they ran, they looked like a herd of mice running, they were so far below us. One part that everyone enjoyed was when we passed a tiny fawn laying quietly in the grass alongside of the trail, thinking that it was hiding. I am sure that the mother was nearby, and was just waiting for all of the riders to get past so that she could get back to her baby. It was many years ago that I went on the trail ride, but it was one of those awesome experiences that you will remember for the rest of your life. http://www.bigskyfishing.com/Montana-Info/bison-range-photographs.php
I love bison, and yes it can be dry, but it is so lean and I think it is much healthier than beef. I like the taste of it better as well. I'm not sure where, but they have been raising bison here in Texas, and I buy it for around the same cost as beef is here, A friend has been teaching and helping with me with my new computer, so I fixed him and his wife a bison steak dinner with trimings. They were so surprised with the tenderness of the steaks. The trick is to sear them at a high temperatute on a grill or under avery hot broiler.
There is no Native American heritage in my family, since my parents and grandparents came here from Sweden, but I do have a site that includes information about Native Americans in North Dakota.
I remember my Grandma making this, Ina. It tastes so good. She also made a fried cornbread that tasted wonderful with pinto beans, potatoes, and garden fresh vegetables. Boy those were the days!
I watched all the videos above. I first laughed till my sides ached at the guy on the Buffalo, then teared up listening to the cowboys singing Annie Laurie and the Amazing Grace in Cherokee….so touching
@Joe Riley, I see you liked the Cherokee song of Amazing Grace, I have albums of Indian music. My favorite album titled "Walela", is sung by the trio of Rita Coolidge, Laura Satterfield, and Priscilla Coolidge. I wish I knew how to post music as you are always doing. I think more people would enjoy Indian music if they could hear it, instead of the parodies we generally hear.
There is an easy way to post music, @Ina I. Wonder . If you look on Youtube, and search for the person or song that you are trying to find, then you can see all of the versions that have been posted to youtube, and pick out the one that you like best. Some will be live presentations from concerts, and others have beautiful pictures to describe the songs being played. Once you choose the one that you want to post here, look in the upper right hand corner, and there is a curved arrow , along with some other icons. choose the arrow, and it will give you a choice of options. At the bottom will be the copy option, choose that. As you click the link, the bottom of the screen will pop up a quick little notice that says "copy successful" or words to that effect. Then you can write your post, and just copy the link to the post. I use the "cmd"+"v" to do it.