What makes a culture distinct from the others surrounding it? Maybe it’s the language spoken, the stories and history of their past, or even the area in which the people reside. However, one of the most notable aspects of culture is the food in which the people of the culture make and eat. Food can be made and shared with others – thus bringing people together. It can connect those who eat it to its source, oftentimes the land where it was grown or raised. And food is so often part of a celebration – it can completely set one culture apart from another.
Native American culture has a long rich history, and food both traditional and modern continues to be an important part of what defines these cultures and ways of life. The University of Idaho is extremely close to several Native Reservations, including the Nez Perce and Coeur d’Alene Tribes. UI was built on land taken from many different Indigenous peoples. Including the Nez Perce tribe, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, the Coeur d’Alene and the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone.
For Native American cultures, food is centric to many traditions, religious ceremonies, and family life – it connects indigenous people with the land and each other.
Program Coordinator for the Native American Student center, Dakota Kidder, explained, “indigenous culture for food is very important because of a connection that we have with the earth, the entire process of recognizing, identifying plants, being able to identify the season…”
Food connects native people with the land and natural resources around them. It also brings families together, the act of hunting and gathering foods lend the opportunity to work with those around you and grow closer.
“the actual process of gathering the food so gathering food with like your auntie’s, your family, your cousin, whoever’s around, it’s really a communal type of thing,” Kidder, “and it brings good feelings for when you can actually go out and gather those roots and berries…”
Wisdom is passed down through the generations about how to gather and hunt food, and the longstanding traditions and knowledge stay in the tribe’s and families.
Not only does food connect families and communities, it’s also a vital aspect of religious ceremonies and tribal traditions. For example in the Nimiipuu or Nez Perce Tribes, traditional meals are held after ceremonies, often highlighting the significance of different foods.
“After the longhouse ceremony, there is the meal and there’s a very specific way that each food is laid out to the table,” Kidder, “And it’s laid out in the in the fashion or in the way that it would be harvested throughout the year.”
This way of laying the table for the meal demonstrates the importance and even reverence towards the food and the land it came from, and Kidder explained that it serves as a reminder of how the food was harvested and the significance of the land.
Indigenous foods hold ceremonial and familial significance, and Kidder believes that traditional native foods have an important role in the home and for health as well.
Kidder states, “These are foods serve as medicinal purposes. We say our Indian foods or native foods are the best foods for us.”
She mentioned the concept of genetic memory, where people whose ancestors lived and ate a certain way will be drawn to that same way of life. There is a resurgence of belief in many Native American communities in the importance of returning to their more traditional ways of eating. So much so that there are even clinics being established that focus on the use of native food as treatment for illnesses and health issues in native people.
Philip Stevens, Associate Professor of Anthropology and the Director of American Indian Studies here at UI is also concerned with the more modern implications of indigenous food, and how it has changed over the years.
He explained how native foods vary not just between tribes but also between different areas of the land. The foods that are significant for a culture is highly reliant on place. For example, he explained how growing up in Arizona on the San Carlos Apache reservation he had never encountered many of the foods which he is now familiar with here in the Pacific Northwest – like huckleberries and salmon. These foods hold no significance in the native culture he grew up in because they simply do not exist, whereas in many of the tribes here they are extremely culturally important.
And native culture in relation to food has shifted dramatically over the years, always changing to adapt to our always shifting world and landscape.
“All cultures are dynamic, including indigenous cultures. Unfortunately, a lot of times people think of native cultures as something static or something from the past, but it’s dynamic just like every other culture.”
As the world changes so do all cultures, native cultures are not stuck in the past, but growing and changing along with all the other cultures of the world. It’s important to keep in mind while many native tribes strive to stay rooted in their traditions, they must also adapt to the modern world and the food culture of today.
In America today, the production of food generally is focused on making as much food possible to feed as many people as possible. Looking around the Palouse area, the importance of monoculture farming in this country is obvious. The seemingly endless fields of wheat and corn testify to the focus on mass production, however Philip Stevens questions if this strategy is what’s best for our bodies and the earth.
“Efficient feeding of people sometimes doesn’t take into account a more nuanced understanding of what health is over the environment.” Stevens said.
The monocultural method of farming is the best when it comes to efficiency and productivity, however it strays dramatically from the traditional native ways of eating that were first used on this land. By cultivating food in this manner, much of the social and cultural possibilities for food are lost – there is no longer such a strong connection to the land and to each other through food.
“If our objectives are economic efficiency, then what we are doing is probably correct,” Stevens, “but if we want to take into consideration environmental or social concerns, and I think that we do, we need to revisit that.”
If we want to return to a more natural and environmentally advantageous mode of producing food, Stevens recommends that society should push for more diversified farming practices that focus on stewardship and overall health for the earth and those who consume it.
Native culture across the country and in the pacific northwest has changed drastically over the last several hundred years, but several constants have remained – including the importance of food. Life may not look completely the same for these native tribes, however food will always remain a central part of their traditions and lifestyles.
Grace Giger can be reached at [email protected]