^Have you been to a powwow before? I used to love going, though I haven't been to one in many years. The food was always fab (especially fry bread pizza with buffalo and vegetables on top -- pretty much the best food ever invented), and the dancing is the best in the world (in my own, incredibly biased opinion).
Unfortunately, no. The timing and circumstances have never quite come together for me to attend one, though I've come very close in the past. I'm looking forward to my very first Monacan Pow Wow, though, and eager to meet relatives that I've never had the pleasure of encountering (or even knew existed).
I don't know that 'exotic' is the word. We're talking about Native Americans, how much more domestic can you get?
Mmm fry bread... I've never been to a powwow myself, but my NA Lit professor brought some in one day that she'd baked. Between that, a Ramadan feast and a visit to an Amish home that was a really good semester for food.
For somebody with so much Native American heritage on my dad's side I've actually eaten little Native food during my life. I think I've been missing out given what I've seen and heard from other family members.
^^^ Interesting. It never actually occurred to me that Native Americans would have a particular kind of cuisine palette. I would envision something along a corn-based Tex/Mex variety but I am likely incorrect. What kind of food would constitute this? I'm genuinely curious...
^What did you think Indians ate before white people got here? You are right about a corn-based diet, which was common throughout all of the Americas. Popcorn, succotash, tortillas, etc, are all traditional American Indian foods. Across North America fry bread (an unleavened bread that is, unsurprisingly, fried) is a common food, and while the recipes vary from tribe to tribe, pretty much every tribe has their version. It is even seen as a symbol of native pride, and this shirt (I actually used to have one!) was made famous by this scene in the movie Smoke Signals: Fry bread can be served many ways...sweet with cinnamon and sugar, with toppings as fry bread pizza, etc. It can be made with sweetbread baked from flour made of dried and ground berries. It is pretty hard to fuck up because it is supremely delicious! Those are the foods I can think of that are common to most tribes, but beyond that, every tribe is it's own distinct culture, and each has its own cuisine, some more sophisticated and extensive than others. Mexican and South American cuisines, which tend to be considered some of the richest and most varied in the world, are all based in native cooking, with Spanish, French, and other influences. Though my mom is Ojibwe, I grew up in Seattle, which meant greater exposure to Pacific Northwest Indian cuisine, which is largely seafood-based (seal, whale, salmon, geoduck, mussels, etc.).
Make that two of us. Buffalo burger. The words themselves sound mouth-watering enough to gobble down.
I think I had 3 Sister Soup every other day for dinner as a kid! It's pretty much the perfect food for a poor single mother trying to feed her kids healthy food. That and succotash are still my go-tos for quick and tasty, but still healthy meals on the cheap.
^The Three Sisters are the staple crops of many American Indian tribes: corn, beans, and squash. I'm pretty sure it's more Eastern in Origin, maybe Iroquois, but it's pretty standard fair across the board these days. There's huge variation in recipes, it can be sweet, savory, or spicy. It is always yummy!
I went to my first pow wow ever last August, here in Queens. The music and dancing, under the stars, was incredibly powerful. (A relatively small) part of my heritage is Native American, so to experience a tangible, visceral, and spiritual expression of culture from so many different nations was just amazing ... and humbling.
I've been told my heritage is from the Tuscarora Nation. Beyond that, though, I (sadly) don't have many details. I do know that my progenitors were part of the migration to western New York when the Tuscarora (re)joined the Iroquois.
I mentioned it earlier, but Monacan here. There might possibly be some Cherokee on that side of the family but nothing has yet been confirmed through research that some of my relatives have been doing.