Posted on Jul 27, 2022
Native Americans across Midwest embrace traditional foods rejected by centuries of colonization
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Native American tribes and communities are creating formal programs that focus on their traditional foods to not only combat systemic food insecurity, but also connect people to their culture.
While on a foraging trip through a wooded area of Kansas City, Jojo Blackwood discovered a plant that would change the way she views her food.
“In my mind, I was like, ‘This is the weirdest looking soccer ball I’ve ever seen in my life,’” Blackwood recalled.
When she pointed it out to the foraging leader from the Kansas City Indian Center, he gasped.
It was a giant white puffball mushroom, a rare find.
The experience sparked her love of foraging for edible plants, as well as growing indigenous foods at the Kansas City Indian Center’s two community gardens.
While on a foraging trip through a wooded area of Kansas City, Jojo Blackwood discovered a plant that would change the way she views her food.
“In my mind, I was like, ‘This is the weirdest looking soccer ball I’ve ever seen in my life,’” Blackwood recalled.
When she pointed it out to the foraging leader from the Kansas City Indian Center, he gasped.
It was a giant white puffball mushroom, a rare find.
The experience sparked her love of foraging for edible plants, as well as growing indigenous foods at the Kansas City Indian Center’s two community gardens.
Native Americans across Midwest embrace traditional foods rejected by centuries of colonization
Posted from kcur.org
Native Americans
Food/Chow
Culture
Kansas City
Gardening
Posted >1 y ago
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Scavenging for food can be a great hobby and possibly life sustaining but one must be careful. When I lived in Montana there were a lot of people who went into the forrest to scavenge. Every year there were people who ate toxic fungus that were poisonous and some died.
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Interesting article.
I recall reading some recipes from the 1800s for many of the traditional foods and how to prepare them because they are not edible unless prepared properly. We have a restaurant at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center that serves some traditional food, but the last time I knew it did not include items like acorns, cattails, sunflowers, tuna (from cactus) . . . of course in every region there are items that are not everywhere. Wondering if people have opened regional restaurants and cafes. I would like to imagine there is interest in the history of food native to our nation and the various cultures of people native to our nation, prior to colonization and after.
I recall reading some recipes from the 1800s for many of the traditional foods and how to prepare them because they are not edible unless prepared properly. We have a restaurant at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center that serves some traditional food, but the last time I knew it did not include items like acorns, cattails, sunflowers, tuna (from cactus) . . . of course in every region there are items that are not everywhere. Wondering if people have opened regional restaurants and cafes. I would like to imagine there is interest in the history of food native to our nation and the various cultures of people native to our nation, prior to colonization and after.
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