The Importance of Food to Indigenous Culture

Food is important to people the world over. It can have emotional ties, connection to community history and religion. Native peoples are no exception to this. There are over 500 federally recognized Native nations in the United States, each with its own set of food ways tied to the landscape in which they live. Though it will vary from community to community, Native nations often have a set of traditional foods that tie to their life ways, according to Christina Gish Hill, associate professor in the department of world languages and cultures at Iowa State University. For agricultural nations, that food is corn. It is an integral part of sustaining those particular nations. Fishing nations have salmon, plains nations have buffalo — but, in all these nations, it’s not just about the food but the relationships between entities. It’s the connection between the people and the plant, animal and land. Native peoples honor these entities to sustain that life giving relationship between people and what will eventually become their food. Part of honoring that relationship involves harvesting animals in the most humane way — killing it in one shot — so they don’t suffer. There are also particular ceremonies surrounding honoring the gift of that animal. Hill noted the importance of honoring the animals because they are giving their life so human life can continue.

of food to the importance Indigenous culture by Morrgan Zmolek

“Often when people talk about those relationships, they talk about how those entities have chosen to essentially sacrifice themselves for people, and, you know, this is a huge honor and you have to show respect and you have to be mindful and respectful of that honor,” she said.

That same kind of respect is extended beyond animals, to the plants. When gathering, Native peoples make an effort to not kill the plant or gather too much because that practice isn’t sustainable. They also try to benefit the plant, so it can continue to reproduce and thrive. Hill said some communities encourage talking to the plant before gathering, explaining why it is necessary to gather and that no harm will be done to it. “That kind of protocol makes you pause,” Hill said. “You have to stop and think about what you’re doing, and you have to think of the role of that entity — plant or animal — in the world, and it forces you to show respect for the other life and acknowledge that that other life is supporting you.” Furthering that idea of respecting those relationships is the language Native peoples have surrounding food. In English, plants and sometimes animals are referred to as “it,” which implies a lack of consciousness or will. In Native communities, however, that isn’t the case. According to Hill, a lot of Native languages have animate and inanimate ways of speaking about things, much like the role of masculine and feminine in languages like French and Spanish. This is because they believe plants and animals have agency and make decisions. Plants and animals choose to take care of people by sacrificing themselves, but Native communities believe that should this relationship be disrespected and mistreated, those entities will abandon you. “It does shift the way that you think because then it really helps you see the entity, not just as alive but as capable of making decisions,” Hill said. The influence of Native peoples on the foods we eat today is substantial. Hill said that without contact with the Americas, many of the traditional European cuisines people have come to know and love would be missing crucial ingredients. “Honestly there are a lot of foods that Europeans and other people throughout the world didn’t eat

or have access to before contact with the Americas,” she said. “Corn is one of them. Beans, squash, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes — and this is a short list, right? These are sort of major items.” Imagine Italian cuisine without tomatoes or Eastern European foods without potatoes. Much of the agricultural knowledge people have today of breeding and growing comes from Native peoples, according to Hill. A primary example she highlighted was corn, which is now a major staple in the global economy and used in products from industrial to cosmetic. Corn’s versatility comes from Native breeding. They were able to select certain traits in different varieties in order to acclimate them to certain climates — such as deserts and places with shorter growing seasons, like Canada. When contact was made with Europeans, the newcomers were able to take those diverse varieties of corn to their home nations and recreate the incredible diversity of corn in the Americas. However, Hill said that, though Europeans certainly adopted some Native foodways, a vast majority of it went unheard. “I think actually a lot of knowledge was not passed from Indigenous people to non-Native people, and I think, early on, it’s because non-Native people were not listening and really had trouble seeing the value in all of that incredible diversity,” she said. That knowledge extends beyond food as food. They also have incredible knowledge of using plants as medicines. Hill said she never really understood the idea of food as medicine until she began working in Native communities.

“Food is medicine,” she said. “How you eat impacts the health of your body. I’ve also heard people talk about how growing is medicine and having your hands in the soil is medicine. I’ve heard people talk about how having their hands in the soil has improved their mental health, they’ve been able to go off medications, all different kinds of medications, they’ve been able to go off their pills as a result of gardening. The act is very powerful itself.”

Native peoples have an intimate and sophisticated knowledge of plants and their medicinal properties. They know when to pick a plant — both in terms of the season and in what part of its development — what part of the plant to pick and how much to use when creating medicine. Because they know the ratios and what plants go together to create certain medicines, they can also tailor it to individual ailments by adjusting what goes into it, rather than traditional one-sizefits-all medicines one might see in typical American pharmacies. Only today are many people seeing the value in Native knowledge of food, nutrition, health, agricultural practices and environmental health. Hill noted that it is important that people respect the knowledge that they get from Native peoples and recognize that there is a lot that has been lost because of the brutal oppressions and forced assimilation that Native peoples endured. A lot of Native peoples today suffer in terms of diet compared to what they were able to eat traditionally because they’ve been removed from those landscapes and dealt with those governmental oppressions. The places in which they live now, mostly marginalized lands, make getting access to healthy foods difficult. They have more access to cheap, easy foods. Hill said the effects of that are seen in terms of health in Native communities, namely higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Many Native peoples are working to revitalize their traditional foodways to combat these negative impacts. Not only is a traditional diet significantly more diverse and nutritious, as they eat hundreds of different plants and all sorts of animal meats, but it also reconnects them to aspects of identity, language, culture, religion and the lands from which they come. It is the goal of this revitalization to be able to have Native peoples eat their traditional foods whenever they want, not just on special occasions or ceremonies. Hill noted that each individual Native nation has specific histories, foods and medicines, and people can only speak generally about them to a certain extent because they are so diverse. Native foodways are valuable information because they’re sustainable, healthier and promote both more diverse ways of eating and biodiversity. However, people have to recognize where this knowledge comes from. “It’s really, really important that folks don’t exploit or appropriate or mine that kind of knowledge, the knowledge of Indigenous foodways, because that can be really dangerous,” she said. “Having that respectful relationship and really understanding — and this is something I do in my own work — really understanding that these knowledges belong to Indigenous communities. It’s theirs. Like corporations protect their own knowledge and information, it’s theirs and shouldn’t be accessed without permission.”

orange glazed pork chops

by Callan Randall Active Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 80 minutes Servings: 3-4

Ingredients 6 pork loin chops ½ cup honey 1 cup orange juice 1 tbsp finely chopped orange zest ½ tsp ground cardamom 2 cloves garlic, minced ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp pepper

Directions 01 In a small bowl, combine the orange juice, orange zest, garlic, cardamom, salt, pepper, and 3 tablespoons of honey. This will be the marinade. 02 In a gallon ziplock bag, place your pork chops and add the marinade. Marinate for 30 to 60 minutes, turning the bag once to ensure even distribution of the marinade. 03 Take out your pork chops and set them aside. In a small saucepan, pour the marinade and add the remainder of the honey. Simmer the mixture over medium-high until it starts to have the consistency of a glaze/sauce. Remove from heat and set aside. 04 On a pan or grill, Grill or pan sear your pork chops until it reaches an internal temperature of 145F, being sure to turn once for even cooking. After it has reached 145F, brush on the prepared glaze until the chop is well covered and shiny. Remove from heat and put on a plate to serve.