Guts and Grease: The Diet of Native Americans

[wyo_rose]

I'm sure that a lot more herbs were used back in the day than we know about now, but probably nothing really that could be called a "spice".

We have to remember that what we grew up on and even what most of grandparents grew up on was not 'traditional' ESPECIALLY frybread. (mmm...hot and greasy and chewy and crispy)

Around here I'm sure we ate lots of deer, elk, buffalo, berries and roots. The mountain Shoshone ate mountain sheep. Rabbits and prarie dogs and rock chucks are plentiful in season. And there's all kinds of fish: trout, whitefish and lingcod. I'm sure we traveled over the divide to enjoy the salmon runs. Or at least traded the Sho-Bans for dried salmon.

I wish I knew more about the roots around here. I've seen wild onions and have heard alot about bitterroot, cammas, wild carrots and wild turnips, but never have seen them. Didn't Sacajawea dig up a whole dinner of roots for them guys when pickin's was slim??

[silverbluewolf]

food

can i get fries with that?

[Eagle Plumes]

now ya'll done went and made me crave bacon grease samich's so I had to make one well a few uuhhh ok several. Now dont ya'll feal bad! uhhh you want one?

[Josiah]

I'm sure that a lot more herbs were used back in the day than we know about now, but probably nothing really that could be called a "spice".

We have to remember that what we grew up on and even what most of grandparents grew up on was not 'traditional' ESPECIALLY frybread. (mmm...hot and greasy and chewy and crispy)

Around here I'm sure we ate lots of deer, elk, buffalo, berries and roots. The mountain Shoshone ate mountain sheep. Rabbits and prarie dogs and rock chucks are plentiful in season. And there's all kinds of fish: trout, whitefish and lingcod. I'm sure we traveled over the divide to enjoy the salmon runs. Or at least traded the Sho-Bans for dried salmon.

I wish I knew more about the roots around here. I've seen wild onions and have heard alot about bitterroot, cammas, wild carrots and wild turnips, but never have seen them. Didn't Sacajawea dig up a whole dinner of roots for them guys when pickin's was slim??

What I meant was what we call Traditional meals today
I know frybread was not around 200 years ago
But it is interesting that so many different tribes make frybread
just about every tribe I have sat and ate with makes it

or a variation of corn bread/meal
Pikii is my favorite
or Paperbread

[Blackbear]

Sarsaparilla root, birch twig tips and pine needles all make nice teas... as do mint. Would these flavorings be considered herbs/spices too?

Yeah I meant to mention sassafrass and maple were used alot for flavoring on the east coast and sugar made from maple as well... oh heck, alot was done with maple sap LOL! But herbs and spices... ? Not really, since they dont fall in that catagory.

[SheTurtle]

Im a rainbow warrior and I deserve weed more than most people..i even have my legal licence,though i havent had weed the past few days..Lord Siva brought weed from the spiritual world...thereby making it sacred.In India when a sadhu came to the house he would be offered a seat and a drink and a bag of Ganga.

I believe we need a break from this gibberish. You've got a good start. Stay off the weed and call your local NA hotline. The people there really do understand and they want to help you. Try a meeting for every day, for at least 90 days and get a sponsor. They want you, not your weed, so leave your weed behind.

Condescension can go both ways, silenceisgolden. It hurts me more to be condescending than it must hurt you.

I think one of the reasons there is no diabetes on my mother's side of the family is because of their diets. They chose not to go on the reservation. They continued to make hominy out of corn, their cattle were grass fed, their chickens ran around and ate bugs and other great things for them, they ate produce grown from their own land, and preserved and canned the surplus for winter months. They also ate a lot of game. They did not make do with bad meat, commodity cheese, and peanut butter in one-gallon cans. They weren't rich, there were a lot of kids to be fed, and everyone pitched in to make sure that there was enough food.

I learned a lot about food from my granny and aunties. Both of my parents were great cooks. As good as Indian tacos can be, I often see them as the products of a commodity pantry. We can do better than that.

[silence is golden]

nothing i have said has been condescending,it is descending knowledge that has been handed down from Guru to disciple.since the beginning of time. there was peace on earth a few times in ancient times when we had saintly kings,who represented Lord Krishna and there was monarchy for the world from india. im just trying to wake up native americans to be careful with their health and their karma...after all.the king chief of america is native american indian...i dont suppose many of you know that.{only special people and very pure native american indians share that knowledge.,sounds like blackbear may be part of my family and knows what im talking about.}...frybread is just like puris and puris are ancient.ive been to the holy places in india ,quite amazing to see ancient pure culture still intact..
when i said frybread was like lentils,it a was a typing error.i repeaated a line by accident,about frybread.

[between2worlds]

silence is golden, I am glad you have found things that work for you and make sense. What you do not seem to hear is that we have our ways, they make sense for us and these ways are very different from your ways.

You do not know our Peoples (plural) or our ways, based on the statements you have made in this thread.

What you have said makes you sound (at least to me) like you are trying to teach us how we ought to be as "Native Americans", and you lack a great deal of knowledge on that subject to have nominated yourself as our teacher.

[silence is golden]

i havent nominated myself as your teacher.i could care less what you all do...iv just been responding to the comments...blackbear sounds like big al(ex-cia,from south dakota)i know a lot about health and the native american indians...the pure natives...i was a teacher for three years in our gurukula,scjhool for kids,when my sons were young.i was also one of the cashiers in govindas restaurant for three years,here in L.A...im a book distributor for the last 25 years.i dont need to preach...the books speak for themselves.

[Joe G]

Hey 'silence' are you trying to 'curry' favor with us? Whenever I was approached by Krishnas in the airports, I always told them I gave in another life!

[silence is golden]

well,it looks like we need some drastic change here in america,seeing as how they are leveling all the mountains,..please vote for obama.

[Blackbear]

i havent nominated myself as your teacher.i could care less what you all do...iv just been responding to the comments...blackbear sounds like big al(ex-cia,from south dakota)i know a lot about health and the native american indians...the pure natives...i was a teacher for three years in our gurukula,scjhool for kids,when my sons were young.i was also one of the cashiers in govindas restaurant for three years,here in L.A...im a book distributor for the last 25 years.i dont need to preach...the books speak for themselves.

You want us to wake up about our health or you could care less? Which is it? The person not listening here is you when we are trying to tell you that what all you have heard about native americans is'nt exactly the truth as you seem to think it is.

Pure Natives??? Please explain exactly what that means to you and maybe a name we might identify for an example.

I have no idea who big al is (other than big gay al from South Park), or why you think I sound like him.. but I can tell you I got no clue what books you've been reading that would tell you what we ate or eat now or speak of a great King that would be written BY native americans unless it's the ones written by the new agers like Carlos Casteneda or Sun Bear... but they those were books not written using actual native spiritual beliefs .. they catered to the hippy, nuage types and their affinity for mixing crap up to suit their dippy lifestyles.

You know what though, you are entitled to believe whatever crap you decide to put on your plate, but don't come arguing with the people who know differently what our PRE-colonialism diets were or what effects us now because we've been aware for quite some time.

If you can't listen with an open mind and ignore your books or Hare Krishna teachings while doing so, then there is no need to speak to you or listen to you for that matter. Common sense about what was available as food in the Americas should tell you that we are'nt lying to you.

[silence is golden]

if you really want to clear all this up for yourself i wrote,by krsnas arrangement,a beautiful myspacepage under the name Ramona..paul gowder is one of my myspace friends.,as well as Deshava apache,bill miller,jerry clown,my lakota warroioior btrother in the line of crazy horse.you can also look up my myspace page by entering my email address,[email protected]
im brand new to computers.may as well use them to help change the world to peace on earth...i have written some wonderfyul blogs with comments on my myspace page.i have to admit i have read sooo many books. some of my favorites are listed on my myspace page.i dedicated my myspace page to my children.it seems i have somany of them.
i have been sending comments to navajo times also reguarding health issues,and the upcoming election,though those stories have disappeared.im impressed that blackbear has posted 9,000 posts. wow.the part that made me laugh the most is when he said are yousure youknow where youare posting?and you look at the bear in front of the computer.im acowgirl,grew up riding horses and showed western,even at the delmar fairgtrounds,in san diego,i got 5th place in the qualifying show and fifth in the regular show,in high school,thanks to my trainer and his horse...i always had horses.my latest story book was about the natives in washington on the coast,and a whole thing about the salmon run,and the black nanny who cares for the white woman who mysteriously always gets saved from danger from hernative american soulmate...the story books that i have been reading lately,are so intense,i can only read section at atime..so i leave my book in my van and only read when im waiting to work.i start burstiung into tears. everything was such a big festival for you guys...so much drama...please vote for obama...we are in a weed war...

[silence is golden]

funny you should mention that i eat whatever crap i put on my plate...lately,ive had to start cooking...and im a very amazing simple cook and everything on my plate is the Lords remnanats.i cook for and offer it to ther lord before eating it.it becomes prasadam,sanctified food ,which purifies the heart to eat it.now that you mention it..the puris ive been making lately,are too amazing. the flour is the latest they are making in india..and ive never had puris this good in 24 years. they are mystically importing some sweet whole wheat flour from india,,also,at india sweets and spices i buy sambar powder to throw into lentil soup.all the spices in sambar powder are very healing.also from that store i bouhght a bag of brown basmati rice from the himalayas...lots of minerals in that rice. when i think of pure native american indians i think of crazy horse,geronimo,sun bear,Big Al,from South DAkota,and my soulmate,a chiefs son and a biker.,all the chiefs and their children ,the princesses and pure native american indian children ,the dark native american indians who dont need to shave their faces...you know who you are..the ones who respect their elders and ancestors and what their ancestors fought and died for.

[Josiah]

Dear silence is golden...

I guess why No One takes you very seriously is the rambling and mishmash of Ideas borrowed from several Religions in your posts. I counted several major and possible several minor religions that you have "borrowed from"

Furthermore your style of writing which is very disconnected and rambling with no punctuation. Makes one wonder if your are partaking in the herbal garden through a pipe!
To sum up your posts, on the surface they say alot but when you read what your saying it makes no sense!

So back to where we started...

I originally posted an article that spoke about NATIVE AMERICAN diets prior to 1st CONTACT...
It is an article based on scientific methods and reasoning...
Furthermore it has been commented on by people on this forum from various regions and tribes of this Country (USA)
Which is one of the purposes of this particular forum.
This is where the discussion normally ends, comments of good article and hey I have heard stories from my Elders etc etc.

HOWEVER

What you have posted has no scientific basis, not based on oral traditions that could be attributed to a tribe within this Continent. It has nothing that would lend further discussion of the original topic Nothing Zero Zip Nada.
I can think of nothing further that you could type that would add anything to the discussion

Having said this and I assure you I only mean this in the most Thoughtful and Articulate way that I can think of...

Find a website that has the same ideas that you seem to believe in and be happy:
Go West
Go with peace


Suggested Reading:

http://www.harekrishna.com/

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