I was recently wondering why there are no restaurants serving American Indian foods as a cuisine[0]. I'd have to think that it could be quite rich in variety, given the number of tribes and their dispersion across the continent. Any ideas why that food is not represented?
[0] Yelped 'American Indian restaurant' and got zero results.
A Native American chef in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN is currently working to open just such a restaurant [1]. I've read a little about his menu and it does sound quite different from the euro-centric diet most Americans eat. This catering menu[2] seems more mainstream.
It will be interesting to see how he overcomes ingredient sourcing challenges. Many ingredients are far outside the current industrial food system. From the site: " We are naturally Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Processed Sugar, Beef, Pork, & Chicken FREE!"
[1] http://sioux-chef.com/
[2] http://sioux-chef.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Sioux-Chef-...
Much of what you'd recognize as Mexican food or Central American food has roots in Native American food of those that spoke Nahuatl and its dialects (Southwestern tribes and further south). Many versions of corn, many non-sweet versions of potatoes, and many peppers are native to the Americas and have obviously been integrated into other cultures and cuisines. As for reasons why such food is not represented as Native American . . . Imperialism? Appropriation? Assimilation?
If you're truly interested Native American food, don't Yelp it. You'll probably have to speak to several people at a Reservation, Tribal Council, Cultural Group or perhaps a museum curator.
Wasn't that just the Plains Indians? Bison might be overrepresented in popular culture because Hollywood emphasizes the years we spent subjugating the Plains Indians.
Proteins were used much more sparingly than they are today. And if it was used, I suspect it to be more likely to be the local variants of pork, poultry, antelope, deer, fish, lizards and snakes, small rodents like squirrels. IMO, uses for pork are more indigenously varied and seem to be less European influenced (Mediterranean specifically, as you would expect from the Spanish), such as (Mexican) Carnitas, Al Pastor, Pozole, Chicharrones, Tamales, Chile Verde, Chile Rojo, Barbacoa. Bison (at least for North American peoples) as a meal takes lots of preparation and butcher work so I suspect it would not be as easy of meal to prepare.
I found a handful of results by searching "Native American restaurant" on Google Maps. I'm sure that different restaurants are putting very different spins on how widely they cast their culinary nets, geographically and temporally—some of them could be "this is what our family likes to eat, and what we would make for family gatherings" and some of them could be "we spent a year and a half researching regional culinary history in a university library".
In a lot of California, if you wanted to eat some of the most traditional local foods, you'd probably be eating acorns:
that's named after places and people from the other side of the continent and is serving a lot of food that's originally from pretty far away from Northern California (though, sure, all of it from North America!).
Anyway, you might not find a lot of options near you, but it seems like you'll find more searching "Native American" instead of "American Indian".
One problem is that American Indian is about as useful as saying African for a cultural perspective. The tribes are not of one piece and many really, really didn't get along. Sure, there is a bit of commonality, but it does not extend to the food. The second problem is many of the tribes weren't city dwellers and I've noticed hunter / gathers don't complicate their food enough to get to cuisine that has a place in a restaurant. Plus, much of the way the tribes cooked ended when they were thrown on reservations. The "Indian Taco" is a product of reservations, not of the open plains for example. Also, some of the food ingredients are unacceptable in the modern age.
I'm aware of two here in New Mexico, the Pó Restaurant in Pojoaque, and I believe there is a new one in Albuquerque by the Native American Cultural Center. I've eaten at the Pó restaurant about 12 years ago, and it was not a great experience, but I hesitate to hold that against them since it was ages ago; it might have just been a bad night. The other one I haven't tried yet.
My impression as a New Mexican is that the local cuisine has elements of native cuisine (tamales seem more native than enchiladas). But, I also have the impression, perhaps unfairly, that native cuisine was kind of bland. I think Bourdain did an episode where he went onto the big Navajo reservation and they roasted and fed him sheep; I recall they ate basically the entire animal, but I didn't see salt or a spice being put on it. I'm sure every native group is different but around here, there was sheep, corn, squash, beans and not a lot else. Even the chile we're famous for was imported (from California, hilariously).
Listening to interviews with native Americans on the radio - frybread was an adaption to forced living on reservation land with limited rations provided by the US government in pretty inhospitable locales - instead of the diet they had before they had been defeated. Having this be a main part of their diet has led to an outsize number of cases of diabetes in the population that is susceptible to it and other health issues.
Which, by the way, is one of the subjects of controversy whenever anyone tries to open a Native American restaurant - whether they offer frybread, or refuse to do so, there will always be a lot of people criticizing them for it.
One time while traveling in the Southwest I stopped at a roadside fair hoping to sample such foods, but was told that the event was for Indians only and I wasn't welcome. I got back in the car and left. I still haven't eaten Native American food.
That was their right, of course. Though the event was open to the public, it was on reservation land, and the history leading to that situation was pretty heavy. If they don't want to serve whites food in exchange for money, they're welcome not to do so. In a few more generations, no one will eat that food anymore. Meanwhile, dozens of other culinary cultures will live on for centuries, because they have a different attitude. That isn't necessarily better, but it is different.
If they don't want to serve whites food in exchange for money, they're welcome not to do so. In a few more generations, no one will eat that food anymore.
Well, it could have been any number of ceremonies[1] going on and some tribes are a bit touchy about non-tribal members since they've had some really bad experiences. After a while, you just loose patience. Its hard to have a community event when you feel like a zoo exhibit.
Although I would love to know what other ethnic groups you could write the same comment in the same tone about and not have the hammer fall.
1) most of the major religious ceremonies are open air in the plains and the south, its not like a lot of tribes built churches.
This was explicitly a roadside fair. A bunch of booths and tables were set up around a gravel parking lot, and most had pots of stew and trays of other foods. This has been some years, so I can't recall what else was on offer. People continually drove in, bought containers of food, and either started eating or drove away. Also there was a sign (in English) on the road indicating the fair. I saw no one take any action which could be considered religious or ceremonial. The point is, they were selling food but not to me. Which is perfectly fine, but it is relevant to thread parent's dilemma.
I couldn't write the same comment about Mexicans or Japanese or Germans or Armenians or Ethiopians or Afghans or Filipinos, because I've eaten in restaurants they own in which they happily serve their delicious food. I've also eaten at non-tourist roadside stands serving many of those cuisines to those people in those nations, and felt welcome. On that particular day, I ate at a Taco Bell up the road, along with what seemed to be every teenage member of the tribe. Of course Taco Bell is not authentically anything ("American", maybe?), but that's the direction culinary habits seem to be moving.
I've been rejected at a Chinese restaurant but writing something like you did: "If they don't want to serve whites food in exchange for money, they're welcome not to do so. In a few more generations, no one will eat that food anymore." would be inappropriate. Putting everyone in a racial group in a bucket for the behavior of one and condemning them to non-existence is a bit too far. You couldn't do that to any other group without a bit of outcry.
Some of it is simply "American" food now (e.g. cornbread, turkey, jerky; barbecue and jerk if you count the various Carribean tribes). Others are probably a bit harder to market as restaurant fare (e.g. acorn mush, bird brain stew, "Indian ice cream"). Some of it is also very specific to certain tribes or otherwise has a more regional than national appeal (e.g. succotash, hominy).
I definitely agree with you that restaurants specializing in traditional American Indian cuisine (whether in general or with an emphasis on a specific tribe or tribes) would be a great idea.
Here is a NPR article about some traditional Native American nutrition. Maybe not glamorous food, but you have to realize that a lot of the food we eat in restaurants comes from haute royal cuisine and most of our ancestors were eating the European equivalent of corn mush too.
In Toronto, there is NishDish (Anishnaabe/Anishnawbe) on Bloor near Christie. I don't live near there anymore, so it hasn’t been convenient, and they are only open 9–5 Tuesday–Sunday (it’s an outgrowth of a catering company). I have heard nothing but good things about it, although the menu will be limited for me as I am vegetarian (they do have veg/vegan offerings, but those are obviously not going to be traditional Anishnaabe foods).
In Washington, D.C. the National Museum of the American Indian serves indigenous food in the cafe. This includes from both North and South American cultures.
[0] Yelped 'American Indian restaurant' and got zero results.