Foods native to the Americas we might have been aware of

As I continue with my series for Native American Heritage Month, I thought about what foods we enjoy today that was introduced by the Native Americans. Just as spices were introduced to Europe through exploration of the East, a variety of foods were introduced to the world known as the Colombian Exchange. The world today owes the Native Americas of North and South America for many of the food it enjoys. Approximately, 60% of the world’s food originated in the New World. From fruits to vegetables to meats, the Native Americans enjoyed a vast and varied diet. Traditionally thought to be mainly hunter-gatherer societies, Native American tribes were also farmers who cultivated a wide variety of foods.

1. Tomatoes: First cultivated in South America in the region of Chile to Ecuador, birds are believed to have carried the seeds spreading them to present day Mexico as early as 800 BCE. The Aztecs embraced the red tomato as well as the green husked tomatoes known as tomatillo to become a staple in their diets. Europeans first feared the tomatoes. They thought they were poisonous as tomatoes are a member of the nightshade family. There is some debate about how the tomato reached Europe. One story states that Hernan Cortes brought the plant in 1521 while another story states that Christopher Columbus might have brought it back in 1493. The first mention of the tomato in European writings was in 1544. However, it wasn’t incorporated into Italian cuisine until the late 17^th or early 18^th century.

2. Potatoes: Usually associated with the Irish and the Great Famine of 1845, the potato was first cultivated by pre-Inca peoples of Peru between 3700-3000 BCE. Over 3,000 varieties of potatoes can be found in the Andes of South America. First introduced in Europe in the 16^th century by the Spanish, the potato has been estimated to be responsible for a quarter of the growth in the Old World population and urbanization between 1700 and 1900 as the potato yields abundantly with little effort. European farmers were skeptical of the potato but soon it became a staple in European diets. North American, however, didn’t see the potato until the Irish immigrants brought them in the 1700s although a wild variety of potato can be found as far north as Mexico and Texas. 

3. Maize (Corn): I’m sure everyone is familiar with corn as originating in the New World. However, many do not realize how important maize is to the Native peoples. First cultivated in Mexico and Central America, maize plays a vital role in many Native cultures. Corn is one of the Three Sisters, along with squash and beans. Referred to as a relative, corn is essential in many creation stories. For example, Little Giver is a corn spirit in southeastern tribal stories. He presented the people with the gift of corn. Selu of Cherokee legend is a goddess associated with fertility. The Mayans believed that humans were fashioned from corn and based their calendar on the planting season. The Zuni people of southwestern US has a story of the 8 corn maidens whose dance helped the corn grow.

4. Berries: Cranberries were used as food, wound medicine and dye by the Northeastern natives. Due to its bitterness, cranberries were used as a part of a tonic which was given for various ailments. The Algonquian peoples called the berry, sassamanash, and introduced it to starving settlers in Massachusetts. In the 1820s, cranberries were shipped to Europe and became popular in Nordic countries as well as Russia. Currants were used by many native tribes for medicinal purposes. Blackfoot natives used currant roots for treatment for kidney disease and menstrual issues. The Cree natives used currants as a fertility enhancer. The strawberry we know today are a crossbreed of two New World strawberries: Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America and Fragaria chiloensis of South America. The two species were first bred in Brittany, France in 1750s.

5. Squash: The word comes from a native word askutasquash, meaning “a green thing eaten raw” from the Narragansett, an Algonquian tribe of the Rhode Island area. Although most natives would eat various squash raw, they were also dried and roasted. The most common native squash is the pumpkin. Pumpkins are thought to have originated in Mexico area between 7,000 to 5,500 BCE. Pumpkin seeds, also called “pepitas” have been discovered by archaeologists in caves of Mexico dating back to 7,000 BCE. The natives used pumpkins not only as a food source but medicine as well. In particular, the seeds were dried and roasted and used for intestinal issues and kidney aliments. Another native squash is the acorn squash. The seeds were the most consumed part of the acorn squash as they were dried and stored for a food for lean times as well as for journeys.

6. Meats: While Native Americans consumed little to no meat in their everyday diets, they consumed various wild and domesticated animals. Tribes near water sources consumed various fish, lobster and shellfish. For example, the costal tribes of California consumed abalone. In California’s Northern Channel Island, the natives there gathered and consumed abalone for nearly 12,000 years. Turkey is another meat source that was popular as a feast food especially for the Mayans and the Aztecs who revered the wild turkey known as huexolotlin as a manifestation of the trickster god, Tezcatlipoca. Turkeys were domesticated and spread as a food source from Central America north through the southwest and the eastern America. The Muscovy duck was often fattened and eaten as a feast food in Mexico, Central and South America. The duck is thought to originate on the Miskito Coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras.

In conclusion, this list is just a small portion for the wide variety of food which originated with the New World. I found it interesting that many of us cannot think of the potato without thinking of the Irish or even Italian food with the tomato based pasta sauces. These foods are so engrained in those ethnic cuisine, we don’t realize that they were always there. It wasn’t until the exploration of the New World that the dishes we know today came about. Many of the foods I listed are among my favorite foods. How many of your favorites are on the list?