Indigenous cuisine of the Americas

Food and drink of peoples Indigenous to the Americas

Indigenous cuisine of the Americas includes all cuisines and food practices of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Contemporary Native peoples retain a varied culture of traditional foods, along with the addition of some post contact foods that have become customary and even iconic of present day Indigenous American social gatherings (for example, frybread). Foods like cornbread, turkey, cranberry, blueberry, hominy, and mush have been adopted into the cuisine of the broader United States population from Native American cultures. In other cases, documents from the early periods of Indigenous American contact with European, African, and Asian peoples have allowed the recovery and revitalization of Indigenous food practices that had formerly passed out of popularity. The most important Indigenous American crops have generally included Indian corn (or maize, from the Taíno name for the plant), beans, squash, pumpkins, sunflowers, wild rice, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, avocados, papayas, potatoes and chocolate. As the Americas cover a large range of biomes, and there are more than 574 currently federally recognized Native American tribes in the US alone, Indigenous cuisine can vary significantly by region and culture. For example, North American Native cuisine differs from Southwestern and Mexican cuisine in its simplicity and directness of flavor.

The essential staple foods of the Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands have traditionally been corn (also known as maize), beans, and squash, known as "The Three Sisters" because they were planted interdependently: the beans grew up the tall stalks of the corn, while the squash spread out at the base of the three plants and provided protection and support for the root systems. Maple syrup is another essential food staple of the Eastern Woodlands peoples. Tree sap is collected from sugar maple trees during the beginning of springtime when the nights are still cold. Birch bark containers are used in the process of making maple syrup, maple cakes, maple sugar, and maple taffy. When the sap is boiled to a certain temperature, different variations of maple food products are created. When the sap starts to thicken, it can be poured into the snow to make taffy. Since the first colonists of New England had to adapt their foods to the local crops and resources, the Native influences of Southern New England Algonquian cuisine form a significant part of New England cuisine with dishes such as cornbread, succotash and Johnnycakes and ingredients such as corn, cranberries and local species of clam still enjoyed in the region today. The Wabanaki tribal nations and other eastern woodlands peoples have made nut milk and infant formula made from nuts and cornmeal, while the Cherokee nation made Kanuchi soup from hickory nuts.

Southeastern Native American culture has contributed to the formation of Southern cuisine from its origins through the present day. From Southeastern Native American culture came one of the main staples of the Southern diet: corn (maize), either ground into meal or limed with an alkaline salt to make hominy, using a Native American technique known as nixtamalization. Corn is used to make all kinds of dishes such as the familiar cornbread and grits. Though a less important staple, potatoes were also adopted from Native American cuisine and have been used in many ways similar to corn. Native Americans introduced the first non Native American Southerners to many other vegetables still familiar on southern tables. Squash, pumpkin, many types of beans, many types of peppers, and sassafras all came to the settlers via Indigenous peoples. The Virginia Algonquian word pawcohiccora means hickory nut meat or a nut milk drink made from it. Many fruits are available in this region. Muscadines, blackberries, raspberries, and many other wild berries were part of Southern Native Americans' diet. To a far greater degree than anyone realizes, several of the most important food dishes of the Southeastern Indians live on today in the "soul food" eaten by both black and white Southerners. Hominy, for example, is still eaten Sofkee lives on as grits cornbread [is] used by Southern cooks Indian fritters variously known as "hoe cake", or "Johnny cake." Indians boiled cornbread is present in Southern cuisine as "corn meal dumplings", and as "hush puppies", Southerns cook their beans and field peas by boiling them, as did the Indians like the Indians they cure their meat and smoke it over hickory coals.|Charles Hudson, The Southeastern Indians

Southeastern Native Americans traditionally supplement their diets with meats derived from the hunting of native game. Venison has always been an important meat staple, due to the abundance of white tailed deer in the area. Rabbits, squirrels, opossums, and raccoons are also common. Livestock, adopted from Europeans, in the form of hogs and cattle, are also kept. Aside from the more commonly consumed parts of the animal, it is traditional to also eat organ meats such as liver, brains, and intestines. Many of the early settlers were taught Southeastern Native American cooking methods.

In the Pacific Northwest, traditional diets include salmon and other fish, seafood, mushrooms, berries, roots and tubers, and meats such as deer, duck, and rabbit. In contrast to the Easterners, the Northwestern peoples are traditionally hunter gatherers, primarily. The generally mild climate led to the development of an economy based on year round abundant food supplies, rather than having to rely upon seasonal agriculture. Yet, Native American tribes of California still relied on storing food for winter seasons, which included "nuts, seeds, and dried meat and fish". Since animals migrated, vegetation is seasonal, and also weather needs to be taken into account. In what is now California, acorns can be ground into a flour that has at times served as the principal foodstuff for about 75 percent of the population, and dried meats can be prepared during the dry season. It seems that acorns and other nuts took priority among indigenous tribes because of the archaeological evidence of "mortars and pestles". Grinding acorns requires a lot of resources and time to gather and process them. Which implies an area where location is more permanent. When it came to gathering acorns it took everyone in the tribe because within weeks they would become mature. There was communal participation when it came to obtaining food. Soups and bread were made from the grinding of acorns. The presence of rodent bones in Quiroste archaeological sites suggests that the Quiroste people ate rodents. The abundance of rodents may have made them a convenient food source. Deer and seal bones are also found in indigenous communities. This caused some indigenous tribes to become dependent on missionaries for survival. Archaeological evidence shows that some indigenous tribes were eating cattle because of the reliance they had on missionaries. Although some tribes relied on the food from missionaries, they still hunted for their own food from the evidence of birds found that know to migrate to the area seasonally.

Ancestral Puebloans of the present day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, initially practiced subsistence agriculture by cultivating maize, beans, squash, sunflower seeds, and pine nuts from the pinyon pine, and game meat including venison and cuniculture, and freshwater fish such as Rio Grande cutthroat trout and rainbow trout are also traditional foods in the region. Ancestral Puebloans are also known for their basketry and pottery, indicating both an agricultural surplus that needed to be carried and stored, and clay pot cooking. Grinding stones have been used to grind maize into meal for cooking. Archaeological digs indicate a very early domestication of turkeys for food. New Mexican cuisine is heavily rooted in both Pueblo and Hispano food traditions, and is a prevalent cuisine in the American Southwest, especially in New Mexico. The 2002 Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations won a James Beard Award, the first Native American cookbook so honored. Publishers had told the author, Lois Ellen Frank, that there was no such thing as Native American cuisine.

Alaska Native cuisine consists of nutrient dense foods such as seal, fish (salmon), and moose. Along with these, berries (huckleberries) and bird eggs are traditionally consumed by Alaska Natives. Seal, walruses, and polar bears are the large game that Alaska Natives hunt. Smaller game includes whitefish, Arctic char, Arctic hare, and ptarmigan. Due to weather, edible plants like berries are only available to be consumed in the summer, so people have a diet very high in fat and protein, but low in carbohydrates. The game that is hunted is also used for clothing. The intestines of large mammals are used to make waterproof clothing and caribou fur is used to make warm clothing.

This region comprises the cultures of the Arawaks, the Caribs, and the Ciboney. The Taíno of the Greater Antilles were the first New World people to encounter Columbus. Prior to European contact, these groups foraged, hunted, and fished. The Taíno cultivated cassava, sweet potato, maize, beans, squash, pineapple, peanut, and peppers. Today these cultural groups have mostly assimilated into the surrounding population, but their culinary legacy lives on. Ajiaco, same as pepperpot, a soup believed to have originated in Cuba before Columbus' arrival. The soup mixes a variety of meats, tubers, and peppers. Barbacoa, the origin of the English word barbecue, a method of slow grilling meat over a fire pit. Jerk, a style of cooking meat that originated with the Taíno of Jamaica. Meat was applied with a dry rub of allspice, Scotch bonnet pepper, and perhaps additional spices, before being smoked over fire or wood charcoal. Casabe, a crispy, thin flatbread made from cassava root widespread in the Pre Columbian Caribbean and Amazonia. Bammy, a Jamaican bread made from cassava and water, today this bread is fried and made with coconut milk. Guanime, a Puerto Rican food similar to the tamale; made with cornmeal or cornmeal and mashed cassave together. Pasteles, a dish that may have also been called hallaca and originated from Puerto Rico. Pasteles were once made with cassava and taro mashed into a masa onto a taro leaf. They are then stuffed with meat and wrapped. Funche or fungi, a cornmeal mush. Cassareep, a sauce, condiment, or thickening agent made by boiling down the extracted juices of bitter cassava root. Mama Juana, a tea made in Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti). Pepperpot, a spicy stew of Taíno origin based on meat, vegetables, chili peppers, and boiled down cassava juice, with a legacy stretching from Cuba, Colombia coast and to Guyana. Bush teas, popular as herbal remedies in the Virgin Islands and other parts of the Caribbean, often derived from indigenous sources, such as ginger thomas, soursop, inflammation bush, kenip, wormgrass, worry wine, and many other leaves, barks, and herbs. Ouicou, a fermented, cassava based beer brewed by the Caribs of the Lesser Antilles. Taumali or taumalin, a Carib sauce made from the green liver meat of lobsters, chile pepper, and lime juice.

The pre conquest cuisine of the Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica made a major contribution to shaping modern day Mexican cuisine, Belizean cuisine, Salvadoran cuisine, Honduran cuisine, Guatemalan cuisine. The cultures involved included the Aztec, Maya, Olmec, Pipil and many more (see the List of pre Columbian civilizations).

This currently includes recipes known from the Quechua, Aymara and Nazca of the Andes. Grilled guinea pig, a native to most of the Andes region, this small rodent has been cultivated for at least 4000 years. Fried green tomatoes, a nightshade relative native to Peru. Saraiaka, a corn liquor. Chicha, a generic name for any number of Indigenous beers found in South America. Though chichas made from various types of corn are the most common in the Andes, chicha in the Amazon Basin frequently use manioc. Variations found throughout the continent can be based on amaranth, quinoa, peanut, potato, coca, and many other ingredients. Chicha morada, a Peruvian, sweet, unfermented drink made from purple corn, fruits, and spices. Colada morada, a thickened, spiced fruit drink based on the Andean blackberry, traditional to the Day of the Dead ceremonies held in Ecuador, it is typically served with guagua de pan, a bread shaped like a swaddled infant (formerly made from cornmeal in Pre Columbian times), though other shapes can be found in various regions. Quinoa porridge. Ch'arki, a type of dried meat. Humitas, similar to modern day tamales, a thick mixture of corn, herbs and onion, cooked in a corn leaf wrapping. The name is modern, meaning bow tie, because of the shape in which it's wrapped. Locro (from the Quechua ruqru) is a hearty thick stew popular along the Andes mountain range. It is one of the national dishes of Argentina and Bolivia. Mazamorra morada, a thick, sweet pudding made from ground purple corn and fruit. Sold in mix form in Peru. Mate de coca, a Peruvian tea made from steeped coca leaves. It is commonly sipped by Indigenous people living at high altitudes in the Andes to prevent elevation illnesses. Pachamanca, stew cooked in a hautía oven. Papa a la Huancaína, Peruvian potatoes covered in a spicy, peanut based sauce called Huancaína (Wan ka EE na) sauce. Patasca, spicy stew made from boiled maize, potatoes, and dried meat. Ceviche, raw fish marinated in lime juice. One of Peru's national dishes. Cancha or tostada, fried golden hominy. Llajwa, salsa of Bolivia. Llapingachos, mashed potato cakes from Ecuador. Tocosh (togosh), a traditional Quechua food prepared from fermented potato pulp.

Angu, an Indigenous Brazilian type of corn mush. Arepa, a maize based bread originating from the Indigenous peoples of Colombia and Venezuela. Vori vori, a Paraguayan soup with cornmeal dumplings. Cauim, a fermented beverage based on maize or manioc broken down by the enzymes of human saliva, traditional to the Tupinambá and other indigenous peoples of Brazil. Chipa, a wide variety of corn flour or manioc based breads traditional to Paraguay. Curanto, a Chilean stew cooked in an earthen oven originally from the Chono people of Chiloé Island. Kaguyjy, a Guarani derived locro corn mush that become part of the national Paraguayan cuisine. Kiveve, a sweet or savory dish from Paraguay consisting of puréed pumpkin and other ingredients cooked over a fire. Lampreado or payaguá mascada, a starchy, manioc based fried cake from Paraguay and the northeast of Argentina. Lapacho or taheebo, a medicinal tree bark infusion. Maniçoba, dish of boiled manioc leaves and smoked meat indigenous to the Brazilian Amazon. Mate (beverage). Mbeju, a pan cooked cake utilizing manioc starch. Merken, an ají powder from the Mapuche of Patagonia. Mocotó, a Brazilian stew with cow's feet, beans, and vegetables. Moqueca, a Brazilian seafood stew. Paçoca, from the Tupi "to crumble," describes two different dishes of pulverized ingredients: one with peanuts and sugar, and the other with dried meat, ground manioc, and onion. Pamonha, a Brazilian tamale. Pira caldo, Paraguayan fish soup. Sopa paraguaya, a corn flour casserole esteemed as the national dish of Paraguay, related to chipa guasu. Soyo, shortened from the Guarani name so’o josopy, a Paraguayan soup based on meat crushed in a mortar. Tacacá, a Brazilian stew of tucupi, jambu leaves, and shrimp, typically served in a dried gourd. Tereré or ka'ay, a cold brewed version of yerba mate. Tucupi, manioc based broth used in Brazilian dishes such as pato no tucupi and tacacá. Yerba mate, a tea made from the holly of the same name, derived from Guaraní.