It’s cloudy today as I write this at my home outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
There is a very gently misting rain.
I am reflecting on the bounty of this land and the original cuisine that has existed here for millennia.
Nate Lemuel
Lois ellen frank, ph.d. That resonated for me.
The Earth is not a commodity for taking, she insisted, but rather our Mother and our sustainer.
So how do all of the “Earth People” do this?
Nate Lemuel
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.
Nate Lemuel
What role do you want to play in this?
How can each of us be of service?
Get the recipe:Three Sisters Stew
The answer is not an easy one.
Nate Lemuel
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.
Chefs Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater.Nate Lemuel
Therefore, history is subjective, not objective.
Where food is concerned, elders have traditionally served as the tribal historians.
They commit to memory a body of past experiences and cultural traditions.
Nate Lemuel
Food is indeed more than something to eat.
Food is provided by Mother Earth.
Each of these periods brought about changes to the diets of Indigenous people, some positive, others negative.
Understanding what happened to the Indigenous diet helps Native community members reclaim and re-indigenize their diets.
(Side note: The Magic Eight ingredients didn’t exist outside of the Americas prior to first contact.
This was probably the biggest and most profound change in the Native American diet.
This was when the U.S. government forcibly relocated Native Americans onto Indian reservations.
(Other Native American communities had their own trails of tears that are not as well known.)
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.
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.
Today, Native Americans are choosing what foods they want on their own plates.
Get the recipe:Seneca White Corn No-Bake Energy Balls
And it’s an exciting time.
We are witnessing a reclamation, revitalization and re-indigenization of ancestral Native American foods and foodways.
I’m also sharing a Three Sisters Stew, featuring corn, beans and squash.
Chokecherries are very important to Melissa’s people and to many tribal communities where this berry grows.
These berries are rich in disease-fighting antioxidants, full of flavonoids and chock-full of vitamins and minerals.
She alsopenned an essayabout the significant work being done byThe Cultural Conservancyin Northern California.
Today is a time that is not only exciting but also empowering for Native communities.
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?
