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Native American Cooking

Native American cooking includes all practices in the culinary arts of the native peoples of the all the Americas. Modern day native peoples retain a rich body of traditional foods, some of which have become iconic of present-day Native American social gatherings (for example, frybread). Foods like cornbread are known to have been adopted into the cooking of the United States from Native American groups. In other cases, documents from the early periods of contact with European, African, and Asian peoples allow the recovery of food practices which passed out of popularity in the historic period (for example, Black ... read more

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Native American cooking includes all practices in the culinary arts of the native peoples of the all the Americas.

Modern day native peoples retain a rich body of traditional foods, some of which have become iconic of present-day Native American social gatherings (for example, frybread). Foods like cornbread are known to have been adopted into the cooking of the United States from Native American groups. In other cases, documents from the early periods of contact with European, African, and Asian peoples allow the recovery of food practices which passed out of popularity in the historic period (for example, Black Drink).

Native American cooking of the United States

The native cooking of the Native Americans of the United States:
 
American Indians of the Eastern Woodlands planted what was known as the "Three Sisters": corn, beans, and squash. 
 
In addition, a number of other domesticated crops were popular during some time periods in the Eastern Woodlands, including a local version of quinoa, a variety of amaranth, sumpweed/marsh elder, maygrass, sunflower, and little barley.
 
Some known dishes
 
Succotash, a trio of lima beans, tomatoes and corn
 
Corn bread 
 
Fry bread is a dish made from ingredients distributed to Native Americans living on reservations. 
 
Pemmican 
 
Buffalo stew, from the Cherokee Nation also called Tanka-me-a-lo 
 
Acorn mush, from the Miwok people 
 
Bird brain stew, from the Cree tribe

Native American cooking of Central America

Central America made a major contribution to shaping modern-day Mexican cooking. 
 
Tamales 
 
Mole 
 
Mezcal 
 
Tortillas 
 
Champurrado, a chocolate drink 
 
Pozole
 
Pulque
 
Tlacoyos

Native American cooking of South America

Humitas, similar to modern-day Tamales, a thick mixture of corn, herbs and onion, cooked in a corn-leaf wrapping.
 
Fried green tomatoes, a nightshade relative native to Peru 
 
Saraiaka or Chicha, a corn liquor 
 
Ch'arki, a type of dried meat

Crops and ingredients
 
Maize, beans and squash were known as the three sisters for their symbiotic relationship when grown together by the North American and Central American natives.

Crops
 
Beans - Throughout the Americas. 
 
Squash - Throughout the Americas. 
 
Sweet potato 
 
Potato - South American 
 
Tomato 
 
Coca
 
Kiwacha 
 
Maca

South and Central America. 
 
chile peppers 
 
bell peppers
 
quinoa South America, Central America, and Eastern North America. 
 
amaranth 
 
tobacco 
 
cassava Primarily South America.

Hunted or livestock

Horse: The only animal on the list introduced by Europeans, the horse was still very important to Native American cultures throughout the Americas (although famously on the North American Plains) in the historic era. 
 
Squirrel: Many groups had no cultural stigma against the consumption of small mammals such as squirrels. 
 
Guinea pig: Domesticated in the Andes. 
 
Bison: A centrally important wild food and modern livestock animal. 
 
Llama: Domesticated in the Andes. 
 
Guanaco: Hunted in Southamerica by hunter-gatherer societies, for ex. in Patagonia until the 19th century. 
 
Turkey: Domesticated at least once in Mexico. 
 
Sloth,: extinct 
 
Wooly mammoth,: extinct

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