Food & Dyes & Medicine

On American Indian reservations, the traditional diet of wild plants and game for food is increasingly being replaced with a far less healthful diet of predominantly high-carb, high-sugar foods.

The Standing People (trees) each have different qualities associated with their species. Here are some of the meanings associated with trees.

Horse meat is not only a delicacy in Europe and China; it’s also one here. Since at least the 1500s, Navajos have harvested and consumed horses.

This is according to Tim Begay, a Navajo Cultural Specialist with the Navajo Historic Preservation Department, who added that horse consumption in the Navajo Nation was and is mostly a way to combat the common cold and flu, and an alternative food source for families during the winter months.

The Washoe Indians were hunter – gatherers from the arid Great Basin Region. The Washoe women gathered plants for food and medicinal purposes. Some were eaten as soon as they were collected. Others were prepared for winter use. Up to 70% of the Washoe diet came from wild plants. These included nearly 200 species. Some of the most common were:

WELLSTON, Mich. (AP) – As the setting sun cast long shadows over Pine Lake,
its surface rippled by a gentle breeze, Jimmie Mitchell dropped a pinch of
tobacco into the water – a gesture of gratitude for nature’s bounty. 

Mitchell, chairman of the natural resources commission with the Little River
Band of Ottawa Indians, and tribal biologist Marty Holtgren have netted 11
yellow perch and two bluegill from the small lake in southern Manistee County. 

Their mission is partly scientific – evaluating fish population dynamics in
area lakes. But the perch and bluegill will be frozen and eventually served
during a ceremony, perhaps a funeral or festival. To the Anishnaabe tribes of
northern Michigan, fish is more than just food. It’s a link with past
generations, a symbol of cultural identity.

And that makes mercury contamination a particularly touchy matter.

Long before the Pilgrims sailed into Plymouth harbor, tribes living in what today is called Arizona developed a distinctive cuisine around corn, beans and squash. It was corn, believed to be the ultimate source of life, that dominated.

This traditional recipe was originally made with gathered wild grapes called possum grapes. Today’s Indian cooks now often make it with Welch’s Grape Juice.

Ever wonder how prehistoric man survived without coffee? Millions of Americans depend on a morning cup of coffee to jump-start their day. Florida’s own Timucua Indians had something just as good – the Black Drink. It came from a plant called Yaupon Holly, in Latin – Ilex vomitoria. How could a plant with a name like that rival modern coffee?

What does porcupine taste like? Generally, the flavor of porcupine meat will be influenced somewhat by whatever it’s been eating, but generally, Porcupine Pot Roast tastes similar to a pork roast.

Bearberry is widespread and common in forests throughout the northern United States. The brilliant red berries remain on the plant all winter and provide survival food for bears when they emerge from their long sleep.

Gathering and Using Medicinal Herbs in the Cherokee Tradition.. KEYWORDS: cherokee medicinal herbs gathering use preservation of medicinal herbs cherokee herbalists The Cherokee have been gifted by the Creator with an understanding of the gathering, use and preservation of medicinal herbs. The Cherokee believe that these plants were put on this earth to provide not […]

At the end of their first year, the Puritans held a great feast following the harvest of food from their new farming efforts. The feast honored Squanto and their friends, the Wampanoags. The feast was followed by 3 days of “thanksgiving” celebrating their good fortune. This feast produced the image of the first Thanksgiving that we all grew up with as children. However, things were doomed to change.