Blog Post #1
April 13, 2015
Hannah James
Last summer I spent three weeks in the dry deserts of Colorado. I was there to partake in an archaeological field school where I would be working side-by-side with different members of Southwestern American Indian tribes. Being around a different, much more ancient, culture than my own was hard to get accustomed to, but in ended up being extremely rewarding. Aside from the morning Mountain Ute chants and the foreign Zuni slang, my favorite part of my days always involved food. While many find the diets of Southwestern Native Americans is bland, I absolutely adore it. A majority of traditional American Indian dishes include corn (also referred to as maize), flour, and fruit. Corn especially is a large part of American Indian life. The variety of food that is traditional to certain tribes is limited to what was available to their ancestors through hunting, gathering, agriculture, or trade. For example, people belonging to the Mountain Ute tribe often ate foods that incorporated crops that could grow in dry, high altitude regions. Tribes that live closer to the coast would fish and the trade fish for spices and crops they were not able to obtain in their own territory. Often, you’ll find that many traditional dishes will be basically the same from tribe to tribe and clan to clan. This can be attributed to the forced cultural blending that occurred once Europeans made contact with the natives of our nation. Even after this contact was made, the natives still continued to live their lives as traditionally as possible. Through the next few blog posts I will outline just how tied to food American Indians of the Southwest are.
April 13, 2015
Hannah James
Last summer I spent three weeks in the dry deserts of Colorado. I was there to partake in an archaeological field school where I would be working side-by-side with different members of Southwestern American Indian tribes. Being around a different, much more ancient, culture than my own was hard to get accustomed to, but in ended up being extremely rewarding. Aside from the morning Mountain Ute chants and the foreign Zuni slang, my favorite part of my days always involved food. While many find the diets of Southwestern Native Americans is bland, I absolutely adore it. A majority of traditional American Indian dishes include corn (also referred to as maize), flour, and fruit. Corn especially is a large part of American Indian life. The variety of food that is traditional to certain tribes is limited to what was available to their ancestors through hunting, gathering, agriculture, or trade. For example, people belonging to the Mountain Ute tribe often ate foods that incorporated crops that could grow in dry, high altitude regions. Tribes that live closer to the coast would fish and the trade fish for spices and crops they were not able to obtain in their own territory. Often, you’ll find that many traditional dishes will be basically the same from tribe to tribe and clan to clan. This can be attributed to the forced cultural blending that occurred once Europeans made contact with the natives of our nation. Even after this contact was made, the natives still continued to live their lives as traditionally as possible. Through the next few blog posts I will outline just how tied to food American Indians of the Southwest are.
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