Food is needed to live. Here in America food plays a special role in our everyday life. Fast-foods quickly come to mind when convenience is more important then nutrition. Some search for the finest quality around just to satisfy their appetites. Almost anything can qualify as food these days. Food is just as diverse and rich in history as the kitchens and their recipes. Almost any flavor can be produced . . . for a price. The issue of hunger has always faced the Native Americans.
Many traditional foods are disappearing much like tribes have, much like our languages and culture. The skills needed to use, grow, prepare, and even identify these foods are dwindling. Global warming causing melted ice caps to make hunting certain animals more difficult. Changing weather patterns, increasing sea levels, and pollution has taken and continue to take its toll on our food.
New understandings of GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) has started a back-lash movement away from the companies that use them. The masses are divided by the use and posed regulations on GMO’s. TED talks and other programing continue to educate the public on these matters.
Native Americans use of traditional foods can be seen here at Haskell Indian Nations University. And I’m not just talking about fry bread, a newer food staple. I’m talking about salmon, and the three sisters: corn, beans, and squash. The importance of these that provide energy and nutrition is stressed with stories, songs, dances, and feasts. And our food changed us.
Our food changed us into what we are today. It was a slow process. My tribe, the Muskogee, has started an agricultural program using the exercise needed to maintain a garden, and having a steady diet of home-grown vegetables and berries to combat illness like diabetes. In this program they would tell stories how our early ancestors had plots of land growing corn for miles. Imagine a there mile long corn field, a corn field that would feed an entire town.
This agriculture initiative a way of increasing food supplies and being sustainable. I see food as a way for a people to be sovereign. If you can feed your self, you might have more respect for yourself. The benefits of spending more time outside has been positive.
Food is many different things. Food does many things for us. Food is fragile. Food is the most important issue facing Indian Country.
tcbuck 
I couldn’t agree more, the Native American food is so much more than just something we consume. It’s apart of us, we have been growing and eating these types of food like bf before fast foods and places of such ever were thought of. When a culture starts to lose some of its methods of growing and eating certain foods, it’s also losing some of its history. These are very good points!
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