What Makes A Native American Restaurant

Native american restaurants

- living authenticity

In spite of their very complex history Native American Indians managed to preserve their traditions in cooking, many of them are proud of their food traditions. Life is going on, but their culture and their cuisine have not disappeared. Each time they prepare food as their ancestors did, they stick to these traditions. They listened to their elders, and learned as much as they could, so they were able to pass these ways onto their own children and shared them with people of outside communities as well.

In spite of their very complex history Native American Indians managed to preserve their traditions in cooking, many of them are proud of their food traditions. Life is going on, but their culture and their cuisine have not disappeared. Each time they prepare food as their ancestors did, they stick to these traditions. They listened to their elders, and learned as much as they could, so they were able to pass these ways onto their own children and shared them with people of outside communities as well.

What is native american restaurants food? It all depends on the location. Mainly it could be possible to distinguish five main areas: the Southwest, the Pacific Cost, the Great Plaint, the North East and the South. Generally, Indians eat the same things anyone else in their area eats, with slightly more emphasis on natural products of the area (due to economic necessity). In various regions you may encounter versatile uses of corn, wild berries, deer, sheep, wild rice, or seafood.

But for many native Americans the most important ingredients are corn, beans and squash, this triad called the Three Sisters. This trinity of food has a variety of names through out the Indian country, but the three staples remain the heart of many Indigenous diets.

Among popular native americans restaurants, dishes one could certainly mention: Pumpkin-corn sauce, baked sweet potatoes, cranberry corn bread, etc, but the most popular are still Indian taco and fry bread.

Utah claims to be the home of the Navajo Taco. Originally known as Navajo Tacos, but since Native American tribes other than the Navajo Nation have also adopted these as their own, they obtained the universal name of Indian Taco. Indian Tacos are a combination of beans or ground beef, chopped lettuce, sliced tomato, shredded cheddar cheese. At the Native American restaurants Indian Taco is usually served with fry bread.

Fried bread is always on the menu at the native american restaurants. It is a relatively recent invention in the Native American diet. When the Dakota tribes encountered explorers in the late 1600s, they gave the men gifts of the grains they grew and gathered, these are corn and wild rice, meant to be boiled and eaten as gruel, not for bread. But eventually a new word for bread crept into the Dakota language - aguyap, or "they burn it" after the flatbreads that were baked by soldiers or voyageurs at camp sites. During the late nineteenth century when native Americans were confined to reservations, they were given staple foods like flour, baking powder, powdered milk, and lard. At first they made a bannock-like bread that was quickly mixed, then baked in the oven. Later, they rolled the dough out, cut it into squares or shaped it into circles, and fried it.

But it would be an incomplete list of the most popular native american restaurants dishes without mentioning an ice cream (Kulfi) made from milk flavoured with either pistachio, almond or mango. It is of course served frozen and like most Indian desserts is fairly sweet.

These dishes one could taste at the great American restaurants.

Where would you go to eat Native American food?

Why So Few Native American Restaurants

Why are there so few Native American Restaurants?

Each winter there are plans to finish projects, complete research and writing, organize a lot of things I keep, sort out and dispose of the rest. The job is never complete. But, during the sorting out process many topics of interest and the reason the article, item and information was kept starts the interest all over again.

The recipe was for a steamed cranberry pudding. Those who know me know I have an interest in cooking and recipes, with a special leaning toward old-time, ethnic, and the more unusual. Some of these were included in the two cookbooks that I authored (both now out of print), but we learn more every year. There are dishes and foods new to us.

Food touches everyone

Those of us who are older remember when pizza came to this area. It was strange to see people pick up food with their hands. I recall a woman asking whether we had tried pizza, then saying she couldn

We can also remember when Oriental food, Mexican and southwestern dishes were almost unknown in this area. All are very popular now. Food and spices from other parts of the world are also gaining acceptance. I grow and use herbs and spices my mother never used.

Writer of the old clipping I found last week commented that with all the fuss today about the gourmet delicacies of France, Italy, China and other foreign lands, it is refreshing to see tribute paid to the cooking of America. He told about an (unnamed) cranberry producer hosting a contest to feature Native American recipes using cranberries. 

Mention was made that (American) Indian cooking posed a problem, since there are few such restaurants. He found one in Rhode Island with such all American dishes as pumpkin soup and Johnny cakes with maple syrup, Western beef (would have been bison in earlier times) and wild rice soup. He also was served a tangy mixture of green chili peppers, diced tomatoes and garlic called pezole.

The writer went on to list true American foods that would have been eaten by Native Americans including clam chowder, gumbo, fish stew (very famous in San Francisco), and cranberries that he found in the delicious steamed pudding in a (non-Indian) restaurant in Wisconsin.

My son came home from a business trip several years ago with a Southwest Indian Cookbook with Pueblo and Navajo images, quotes and recipes. I have enjoyed the gift, put together by a photojournalist who spent 20 years in Pueblo and Navajo cultures. After sharing many meals with friends, she asked for written recipes. There were none. It took much work on the part of Indian friends to refine family tradition and history into cups and tablespoons. The 120 page book brings dozens of dishes that we don't see often and not in restaurants.

Another book that our daughter gave me after going on a college field trip to the Prairie Du Chien area, is filled with Native American recipes and remedies. Many wild plants and fruits are used. Honey and maple syrup were prized ingredients.

Just think of the variety of fruits and berries such as blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, grapes and many others that were used by Native Americans in cooking, in beverages and teas. Each part of the country had natives using foods and herbs from that area. We all use versions of the native recipes and  don't recognize it. 

So why don't we see more restaurants featuring Native American Cuisine ? Is there a Native American Cuisine?