Native American Contributions to Food

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Native Americans have given many gifts to the world; one is the variety of delicious foods we've received from them!

We know that Native Americans, such as Squanto, helped the European settlers to survive by teaching them what to eat in the New World. When the newcomers arrived, Native Americans knew how to grow almost 100 crops.

Many of the plants and animals new to the settlers had been eaten by the Indians for centuries. And many of their eating habits influenced what people worldwide eat today!

The Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash)

A Native American legend about the Three Sisters tells how these crops came to stay with the Indians. Watch the video below to learn about this legend.

• Did you determine which sister was which plant and why they were always planted together?

As the legend says, the little sister (bean) twined herself around the leg of the big sister (corn) so she could stand up. The corn stalks provided poles for the beans to grow on.

The middle sister (squash) loved to run across the garden. Squash is a vine that spreads out over the ground. This spreading vine blocked the sunlight so weeds couldn't grow around the plants, and it acted as a cover to keep the soil from drying out.

• Wasn't it clever of the native people to figure out that these three things should be planted together?

These crops provided good nutrition and eventually became three foods the Native Americans contributed to the rest of the world.

Corn

• Did you know corn is now considered the world's most important food crop?

It's in most of our packaged foods, from cereal to soda! And it's fed to most of our livestock, so it's in most of the meat we consume as well.

Corn was also the most important crop for the Native Americans. It was the staple of their diet and was probably served at every meal. Many native languages use the word life to mean corn because it was so important to them.

It could be ground into flour, baked as bread, or mashed up and eaten as a cereal mush. It could be boiled, roasted, or popped as popcorn. According to a legend, a Native American brought a bowl of popcorn to the first Thanksgiving meal!

Beans

Beans were also essential. Easy to grow and a great source of protein, they could be dried and stored. They could be ground into flour, mashed, or cooked in soups and stews.

They are now one of the most inexpensive sources of protein for people around the world.

Squash

Squash was easy to grow and a good source of protein, vitamins, and minerals.

Squash is one of the oldest known crops to have been grown. Evidence from sites in Mexico suggests it has been grown there for over 10,000 years!

Archaeologists suggest they may have first been grown to use as containers because of their hard outer shells. But later, natives also learned to eat their inner meat and seeds. They prepared the squash by roasting or boiling it and even ate raw leaves, flowers, and seeds.

And that explains where the name squash comes from. Not only did the settlers gain knowledge of squash from Native Americans, but they also adopted their name for it. The word squash comes from the language of the Narragansett tribe. Their word askutasquash means eaten uncooked.

At first, the settlers were not very impressed with this vegetable.

• Can you imagine that?

But they sure did appreciate it when that first harsh New England winter hit! The abundant squash harvest was one of the key factors that helped them survive. They baked, cut, and mixed them with syrup or honey for flavor...yum!

Now that you've been introduced to the Three Sisters, look at some other food items the Native Americans ate, which people still eat today!

Foods From Native America

Besides the foods themselves, some of the recipes and cooking methods used today were inspired by native methods. Examples are noted below.

• roasted corn
• grits
• cornbread
• corn fritters
• Brunswick stew
• chili
• Boston baked beans
• succotash

You'll have a chance to try some recipes later in the Go! section.

But for now, move on to the Got it? section and explore the history of one of the world's favorite snacks!