2010.02 History and Development of Choctaw Foods
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Iti Fabussa History and Choctaw foods development By a special request from the Bishinik staff, years. Through much of this period, February’s extended edition of Iti Fabvssa fo- the diet developed by our ancestors cuses on traditional Choctaw foods. represented a balance of wild plant For millennia, Choctaw and ancestral Choctaw foods and animal products that were chefs have been perfecting cuisine to satisfy their eaten according to the seasons. In families’ appetites and tastes. Today, as in the past, the spring, women collected leaves many Choctaws draw a part of our identity from from young, succulent plants such cooking and eating old Choctaw family favorites as poke, dock and stinging nettles, such as Tanchi Labona (“Pashofa” in the Chicka- providing the Vitamin A, calcium, Cakes frying in a griddle made and iron needed to supplement dried saw language), Pvlvska Bvnana (Banaha bread), from a broken clay pot. and Walakshi (fruit dumplings). This article will food rations that had been stored over take a brief glimpse at the history and development of tradi- winter. In the summer, they collected tional Choctaw foods, featuring a number of early Choctaw edible fruits like grapes and blackberries, grains like sumpweed recipes along the way, and outlining the important influences seeds, and oily hickory nuts, while the men provided protein that these foods have had on today’s American cuisine. by fishing and hunting small game. In the fall, women gathered Like many things traditional, Choctaw foods have changed acorns, while the men hunted the larger animals that the acorns and developed over time. This is partially because our food attracted, their meat and hides prime for the coming cold. In the sources, the plants and animals available to us, have themselves winter, the community dug starchy tubers like greenbrier roots, changed through time. What may be some of the earliest Choc- and welcomed the Vitamin C provided by fresh persimmons. taw oral traditions describe giant animals inhabiting the home- Early on, ancestral Choctaw people had no pottery to cook land, which were capable of tearing down trees. Within the last in (it hadn’t been invented yet), but they cooked in the coals century, the western sciences of paleontology and archaeology of fires, steamed foods in leaves, roasted or smoked foods on have not only corroborated that such giant and powerful animals racks over the fire, boiled foods in containers made of ani- as the mastadon did live on Choctaw homeland (until perhaps mal hides, and buried foods in the earth and baked them. They 12,000 years ago), but also show that people used to hunt them. probably also boiled foods in tight-weave baskets or wooden Although relatively few details are known about the food dishes containers. Some of the foods prepared during this early time that our ancestors ate at this very early date, their culinary rep- are still eaten by Choctaw people today. The following are ertoire included meat from giant and smaller animals, as well as summaries of early written recipes for traditional Choctaw plant foods collected in season. Some of the species they relied foods, which, based on their ingredients and cooking tech- on for food have now been extinct for thousands of years. niques, have probably been made for thousands of years: Koshiba Nipi Shila, (a Choctaw term that used to refer to “jerky”) “Poke Salad”: Pick small poke leaves in the spring must be one of the oldest ancestral Choctaw foods. The earliest when they are tender before they become bitter. Put young leaves recipe for Nipi Shila was simply to cut lean meat into thin, nar- in water and boil for a short time. Pour off water and boil again, row strips and suspend them over a smoky fire. This preserved with fat meat if desired. The same process may also be followed the meat by drying it and exposing it to creosote in the smoke. to prepare dock, stinging nettles. Leaves from the lambsquarter Today, this technique can be seen first-hand in deer jerky- plant do not require par boiling and can be eaten all summer. making demonstrations at the Choctaw Labor Day Fes- Uksak Ulhkomo, “Hickory Nut Oil” is a broth tradition- tival. The same basic technique was surely used by our ally added to many Choctaw dishes. Hickory nuts have very ancestors 14,000 years ago on the meat from now-extinct hard shells. To make Uksak Ulhkomo, hickory nuts can be animals. Similar drying methods have also been used by crushed and placed in a cloth sack that is boiled in stew and Choctaws for thousands of years to preserve fish and fruit. then removed, leaving behind the “hickory milk”. This tech- The plant and animal communities that today live in the nique avoids the work of picking the meat from the shells. Choctaw homeland, have existed here for about the past 10,000 Uksak Alhanta, “literally mixed hickory nuts”: Crack open hickory nuts. Pick out meat. agricultural crops, corn and beans, in Discard shells. Pound meat into a massive amounts. According to one paste. Put paste in boiling water and Choctaw oral tradition, corn was given stir briskly. Serve as a porridge. to the Choctaw people by Ohoyo-Osh Chisba Nusi Pvlvska, “Acorn Bread”: “Unknown Woman.” Accord- Hull live oak acorns and pound ing to another Choctaw tradition, it them into a flour. Place acorn flour physically originated in Mesoamerica. in a cane sieve near a creek. Dip This location of origin has subsequently water over the acorns until the been confirmed by archaeology. bitterness leaves. Mix the acorn The importance of corn and beans flour with water to make a thick (traditionally planted together) was paste. Wrap paste around a stick so great to ancestral Choctaw people and hold over a fire until done. that many communities appear to have Similar bread can also be made changed their ancient residence pattern from beechnuts, hazel nuts, and and seasonal schedule to focus on grow- chinquapins. In times of scarcity, ing these crops as efficiently as possible. bread was sometimes made from Not coincidently, the most important flour created from boiled pine roots. Choctaw social function and spiritual event, during this period, the “Green Okshush, “Acorn Pudding” is Corn Ceremony” was timed accord- made by mixing acorn flour with ing to the ripening of the corn crop. water and boiling to make a mush. Many traditional Choctaw dishes Ukof Honni, “Persimmon incorporate corn and beans as ingre- Stew”: Gather persimmons in dients. Some of these, such as Oksak winter after a frost. If they are gath- Harvesting young poke leaves. Bahpo (a mush made from pounded ered too soon, they will be full of hickory nuts, walnuts, and corn), tannic acid and inedible. Some trees combined older Choctaw foods with produce very sweet fruit, while others can have a bitter taste. the new crops. Other dishes were made solely from the new To prepare, remove the skins and seeds from the fruit. Leave foods. Based on their ingredients, the following Choctaw corn as chunks or mash into a pulp. Cut meat into bite-sized pieces recipes likely date back before European contact, but are prob- and throw into boiling water. Add persimmon pulp or chunks. ably no older than 1,000 years (recipe specifics vary by family): The stew may be thickened with hickory nut oil or acorn flour. Pvlvska Bvnaha, “Banaha Bread”: Cornmeal is mixed with pea Ahelusa, “Black Potato,” is made from the roots of hull ash and water to form a dough. To this, may be added cooked the trailing wildbean (Strophostyles helvola). These are beans if desired. The dough is formed into masses, wrapped dug up, cleaned, boiled in water, and then mashed. into green corn husks, and tied. These are then boiled. A related dish, “Oksak Atahap,” can be made in the same manner, except Lukckuk Ahe, “Mud Potato,” is made from the root of the with the addition of hickory nutmeat instead of peas or beans. groundnut (Apios americana). The white-fleshed roots from the groundnut are dug up, collected, and washed. They are then boiled Tafula, “Hominy” (literally boiled corn): Boil corn kernels in water and served as Irish Potatoes are today. Alternatively, in a large pot. Lye (wood ash) is added and the boiling contin- mud potatoes were sometimes cooked in the coals of a fire. ued until the cornhusks begin to loosen. Afterward, the corn is Indigenous technological innovations brought changes to washed in clean water and beaten in a mortar to remove its husks the Choctaw diet. Beginning around 4200 BC, Southeast- and break up the kernels. These cleaned kernels can be dried or ern communities began to domesticate some of the native put back in water and cooked until soft. Sour hominy, “Tafula plants that they had been gathering for thousands of years. Hawushko,” is made by keeping cooked hominy in a warm place Some of these early agricultural crops included lambs quar- until it has soured. Alternatively to the souring process, beans ter, gourds, sumpweed, and sunflower. Clay pottery first and/or hickory nut oil may be added to the hominy. If beans began to be produced in the Southeast around 2500 BC, al- are added, the dish may be called “Tafula Toni Ibulhtoh.” though it took a few centuries to reach the Choctaw home- Tanchi Labona, (literally stirred corn): The Tafula-making land. Pottery made boiled and fried dishes easier to cook. process is followed as described above, except instead of re- Kantak Pvlvska, “Greenbrier Root Bread,” is made from the moving the corn husks in a mortar, they are taken off by rub- roots of a thorny vine, common in the Southeastern woods.