[suthainn]

Austinlynn;38505 wrote: THIS is what I have been searching for…What is ASH CAKE?

Greetings and welcome to the forum 🙂

I did find this site for you about ash cake

http://www.practicalprimitive.com/ashcakes.html

Im sure, like fry bread recipes, families have their own ways of making it.

I know fry bread was not a pre continent discovery staple food, but I know why it has become after and why it has remained so.

I do hope you make great connections here and find some good information.

~suthainn

[MarcSnelling]

Austinlynn;38503 wrote: I dont understand fry bread being “traditional” to any Native American Nation,….Or anything with flour. Wheat was not a native plant. It was brought over when the explorers came and was forced by the US government as a “staple” on the Native americans after pushing them out of their hunting grounds and farms. Flour Lard and Sugar…”make something with it” it causes diabetes and obesity .

Frybread I think is ‘traditional’ in the modern powwow sense – like the last 50 years or so. Maybe if the flour was made from ground acorns it would be more authentic.

Traditional foods to me are more things like strawberry juice. I hear a lot of people talking about the importance of eating traditional game – like beavers, muskrat and such. The length of time that diet was established over is much, much longer than the amount of time people have been eating refined sugar, bleached flour and lard. I’ve spent some time working for IHS and diabetes is the number one health issue for many groups.

My grandfather talked to me about how it was before they started putting nitrates in meat. He thought that was a bad idea.

[suthainn]

MarcSnelling;38534 wrote: Frybread I think is ‘traditional’ in the modern powwow sense – like the last 50 years or so. Maybe if the flour was made from ground acorns it would be more authentic.

Traditional foods to me are more things like strawberry juice. I hear a lot of people talking about the importance of eating traditional game – like beavers, muskrat and such. The length of time that diet was established over is much, much longer than the amount of time people have been eating refined sugar, bleached flour and lard. I’ve spent some time working for IHS and diabetes is the number one health issue for many groups.

My grandfather talked to me about how it was before they started putting nitrates in meat. He thought that was a bad idea.

Maybe it has different meanings for tradition in the various areas of the country too Marc? I know here where I am in the Midwest and the plateau regions, it was a staple food when the reservations became home. The meats and other foods came rancid and rotted, so the women would make the fried bread to fill hungry bellies. At least that’s what I have always been told. Later on it was made into NDN tacos, powdered sugar or honey for a dessert, etc….I have even used my recipe for dumplings!

Just like the Polynesian people having weight and diabetic issues, they are trying to instill the old foods to the younger ones to learn to eat better and what their bodies are more used to.

All indigenous peoples have trouble with wheat, barely, hops, etc that the typical “white” European had centuries to adapt to, but since damn near no-one in this country is pure anything anymore, I think there will always be a continuing problem with the types of foods consumed and produced. (don’t get me started on GMOs).

I admit, I love fry bread and Im glad its a native food…. 🙂

~suthainn

[MarcSnelling]

Yes I think you are right about different traditions for different people. With the frybread I meant that the bleached-flour, refined-sugar version is not traditional, not frybread in general.

It is interesting you mention GMOs. My Saponi-descended kin are not always such a close bunch. We live in Ontario, Indiana, Florida, and elsewhere, we have political and religious views across the spectrum. In fact there is not that much we agree on. Yet one of the things we do agree on is being wary of GMOs. My uncle and cousin went to a demonstration about Monsanto in Indy, not typical for them. It seems to be an issue some people really feel.

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