Research Catalog

Title

American Indian food / Linda Murray Berzok.

Author

Berzok, Linda Murray.

Publication

Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2005.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxviii, 213 p. : ill.; 25 cm.

Summary

This, the first, in-depth survey of Native American Indian foodways is an amazing chronicle of both human development over thousands of years and American history after the European invasion. It sheds light not only on this group and their history but on American food culture and history as well. For thousands of years an intimate relationship existed between Native Americans and their food sources. Dependence on nature for subsistence gave rise to a rich spiritual tradition with rituals and feasts marking planting and harvesting seasons. The European invasion forced a radical transformation of the indigenous food habits. Foodways were one of the first layers of culture attacked. Indians were removed from their homelands, forced to cultivate European crops such as wheat and grapes, new animals were introduced, and the bison, a major staple in the Great Plains and West, was wiped out. Today, American Indians are trying to reclaim many of their food traditions. A number of their foodways have become part of the broader American cookbook, as many dishes eaten today were derived from Native American cooking, including cornbread, clam chowder, succotash, grits, and western barbecue.

Series Statement

Food in American history, 1552-8200

Uniform Title

Food in American history.

Subject

• Cooking
• Diet
• Feeding Behavior > ethnology
• Food
• Food habits > North America
• Indians of North America > Ethnobotany
• Indians of North America > Food
• Indians, North American
• North America
• Plants, Cultivated > North America
• Plants, Useful > North America

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [205]-206) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Food, history, and culture -- Foodstuffs -- Food preparation, preservation and storage -- Food customs -- Food and religion -- Concepts of diet and nutrition.

ISBN

0313329893 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2004027858

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library