Native American Cuisine: Discover the Treasures

Gold and silver were the treasures Christopher Columbus and the conquistadors came looking for when they landed in America. Instead they found rolling prairies, dense forests and thundering rivers. From this land, Native American Indians fished, hunted wild game such as turkey, and cultivated a wealth of nourishing crops, including corn, squash, beans, potatoes and tomatoes. In fact, it is these foods that are the real treasures of the New World. Adapted and transformed throughout the years, they have shaped both our culture and cuisine.

"All of American cuisine is fusion cookery," says Elisabeth Rozin, food historian and author of Blue Corn and Chocolate, a blend of the Old World and the new."

While European foods are well-known in American cuisine, more than half of the foods we enjoy today are from our own shores, given to us by the North American Indian. One of the most notable is the famous Indian triad of corn, squash and beans.

These "three sisters" were planted and grown together -- the corn stalk supported the snake-like bean vine sown on the same mound, and squash grew between the rows of corn. It was the "three sisters," brought by the Indians, that kept the early Jamestown settlement from starving. Farther north in Plymouth, this gift of corn did the same for the pilgrims.

From the Indians, colonists learned how to cook and eat these new foods, adapting them to fit European tastes. Corn became corn bread, spoonbread, corn fritters and hominy grits. Succotash, a unique Native American dish made of a stewed mixture of corn and lima beans, quickly became a favorite. Maple syrup, tapped from the maple trees that heavily populated New England and New York state, was a popular Indian sweetener often used with fruits, nuts and squash. In fact, it was probably the Narragansett and Penobsoot women, two Eastern tribes that lived along the Atlantic coast, who taught New Englanders how to sweeten beans with maple syrup and fat -- the forerunner of our Boston Baked Beans.

Wild turkey, a native American bird, was frequently hunted and eaten by North American Indians. They often prepared it with corn, lima beans and tomatoes in a thick mixture, which we now call Brunswick stew. This delicious stew is just as popular today as it was when the Indian women of the Cherokee, Powhatan and Chickahominy tribes prepared it for the Jamestown settlers. Then it was simply called "game soup."

Other Native Americans paired turkey with wild rice. In the lake country of northern Minnesota, the Winnebago and Chippewa Indian tribes considered this dark, chewy grain as precious as gold and used it in stuffings, soups and side dishes. European settlers however, initially preferred to prepare turkey in Old World style. "Europeans traditionally roasted and stuffed turkey, especially for special occasions like holidays or feasts," said Rozin, "It wasn't until later that they would realize turkey's versatility and use it like Native Americans, in stews and soups and other dishes."

Today we can enjoy these tasty Native American dishes with modern day conveniences like frozen and canned vegetables, bottled maple syrup, pre-cut turkey products, and of course -- ovens! Try the heat-warming turkey Brunswick stew or spiced turkey, squash and apples, or experiment with an indigenous creation of your own.