On the Greater Use of Indian Foods 



THE war that is upon us will 

 sooner or later compel us to con- 

 serve to the last degree our eco- 

 nomic strength hy the elimination of ac- 

 tual waste in food and by the higher and 

 more scientific use of the materials at 

 hand. Food habits are notoriously fixed, 

 but great events sweep away prejudices. 

 We have inherited most of our food hab- 

 its from the Old World and we call 

 wheat bread ^"^the staff of life," even 

 though the same nourishment can easily 

 be secured in other foods. Now maize 

 is the great aboriginal food of America 

 and its possibilities have been imper- 

 fectly realized by ourselves. This grain 

 is just as much a favorite staple among 

 our neighbors in Central America as is 

 rice among the peoples of southern Asia 

 or wheat in western Europe. 



Certain dishes of the American In- 

 dians were adopted by the early colo- 

 nists in 'New England and elsewhere. 

 Thus samp was instantly appreciated 

 by the hungry English and described by 

 Eoger Williams in 1643 as "Indian corn 

 beaten and boiled and eaten hot or cold 

 with milk or butter." At a still earlier 

 date, 1630, Captain John Smith men- 

 tions hominy, a name ordinarily applied 

 to maize that has been boiled with al- 

 kali. The alkali (lime, potash, snails' 

 shells, etc.) causes the outer skin of the 

 grain to peel away, leaving the white 

 inner portion soft and palatable. This 

 method of preparing maize was wide- 

 spread over North and Central Amer- 

 ica. Succotash is a Narraganset word 

 that has been misapplied to a mixture 

 of corn and beans; it originally meant 

 simply an ear of maize. Hoe cake was 

 taken over from the southern Indians. 

 A favorite food of the early explorers 

 and trappers was parched corn meal, 

 which combines great nourishing power 



with slight weight. This was much used 

 by the Iroquois warriors in their long 

 raids against other tribes, when each 

 man had to carry his own food. 



But the Indian tribes of our South- 

 west and of Mexico and Central Amer- 

 ica are more civilized than those from 

 whom these foods have been adopted, 

 and their culinary efforts are more 

 worthy of imitation. A greater use is 

 made by them of maize flour in contra- 

 distinction to rough meal. The "^japer 

 bread" of the Pueblo Indians is gruel 

 baked on stone stoves. The top of the 

 stove is smoothed by an addition of clay 

 and oiled with pumpkin seeds. This 

 "paper bread" may be of several colors, 

 according to the different kinds of 

 maize, and it has excellent keeping qual- 

 ities. In Mexico the same method is 

 employed for totopoztli, which is, how- 

 ever, baked until brown and crisp. 



Hulled corn or hominy, ground into a 

 paste, furnishes dough for the tortillas 

 or unleavened cakes that take the place 

 of bread in Mexico. Although the ordi- 

 nary tortilla is rather soggy, when made 

 thin it is delicious. For a breakfast 

 dish nothing can surpass the enchilada, 

 which is a tortilla rolled up cigar-fash- 

 ion with a little meat, cheese, or chili 

 pepper as a surprise in the center. This 

 is toasted before the fire until it is crisp 

 and crackling. Pinole is, properly speak- 

 ing, a parched meal made from maize 

 and other seeds. The word is applied to a 

 variety of dishes, such as stews of maize, 

 meat, and chili peppers. Pinolatl (pinole 

 water) and posole are refreshing drinks 

 made by stirring maize paste or dough 

 into sweetened w^ater. The tamale is per- 

 haps the best known dish of the Mexican 

 Indians, at least as far as the word is con- 

 cerned. It is made in many different 

 fashions. Herbert J. Spixden'. 



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