Illustration by my friend, Ricardo Cate', Santo Domingo Pueblo artist. ricardocate.com
As a person who loves to eat and is not afraid to
try new things, I sometimes look back at the food that comes from my home,
the Navajo Nation reservation. It’s very simple and rugged stuff that you need
to build a tolerance for — some of it at least. Some of it is just plain tasty.
Lets go back for a bit:
Most Native Americans were nomadic. They moved
around with the seasons and herds. Sometimes they grew vegetables such as corn,
squash, beans, potatoes, ect. That’s true with the Navajo, we pretty much ate
off the land.
Each tribe hunted the animals that were native to
their area. Deer in the forested areas, buffalo, rabbits, fish, whales, dogs –
yes dogs, turkeys, chickens, ect. They used the local vegetables and fruits
that grew in the area too.
Then came the immigrants and forced assimilation.
Every tribe was forced to live in one place. I imagine a lot of starvation
happened. They didn’t know how to farm or process foods. They also didn’t know
how to use the strange, new foods that were rationed to them by the government.
Imagine if you never saw flour or coffee beans before. Would you know what to
do with it? I also imagine there was a lot of sickness too.
Natives were also heavily influenced by these
immigrants and their neighbors. They learned how to cook things, use new
cooking tools and put their own twist on dishes. Take the Navajo for instance.
We were heavily influenced by our Mexican/Spanish neighbors. We have Navajo
tacos, pesolé, chile stews and a lot of our Navajo words are actually Spanish
words too. Geeso is how we say
“cheese,” queso is how it’s
said in Spanish; sounds the same. Mandagi’a is Navajo for “butter”; and mantaquella in Spanish. Oh, and tortillas, every Navajo woman
must know how to make fry bread and
tortillas. We also consider tamales to be a delicacy, just like the Mexicans
do, and they only come out on special occasions.
Fry bread
I know what the first thing you think about when
you think about Native Americans and food. Fry bread. Actually, I don’t know
how it was born or how each tribe came to have it. But each tribe has a different
technique, texture and size to their fry bread. Each person who knows how to
make fry bread takes great pride in their recipe. Navajos go all out with the
plate-sized, thin fry bread with crispy bubbles. Up north, they make it thick
and small. Some like it sweet with sugar stuff on it like a waffle. Others,
like me, never put sugar on it and prefer it plain with salt or with some stew.
A hearty mutton stew with green chile and a frybread.
A roast mutton sandwich from a food truck in Crownpoint, N.M., my hometown.
The sheep
They were introduced to us by the Spanish around
the 17th century. They became a very important animal; the life and
way of the people. Families kept hundreds of them and used their wool for rugs
and ate their meat.
To butcher a sheep takes practice and ceremony.
Prayers and ‘thank you’s’ are said for the sheep. It’s bled out from the neck
and skinned. I’ve only seen this once and didn’t stay for the whole thing. But
the body is broken down and prepared for the grill – or the freezer.
A butchering with the guys and gals of Nations, a student group, in Las Cruces — yes, they butchered in the city.
The innards are not thrown out, they’re cooked too.
The large intestines, liver, kidneys, stomach and other bits can be chopped and
fried together. Everything in that mix is very grassy, gamey and greasy – good
with a hot tortilla. The liver, like all livers, sort of come apart in the
mouth like soft sand. The stomach turns rubbery and the intestines are the
grassy rubbery ones. My sister loves this mix and says the kidneys are very
good, especially with a piece of green chile and a tortilla.
The blood is used to make a blood sausage. It’s
poured in the stomach with some potatoes, blue corn meal and chile and boiled. I’ve never had
this, but I’m guessing it tastes like liver, which I don’t like. And some of
the fat, or fat lining is set out to dry and eaten with bread or by itself.
The small intestines are used for achii’. They’re cleaned and wrapped around a sliver of
fat and grilled. I’ve had a few of these. They’re greasy and the intestines
become a little rubbery or crispy. It’s very “muttony” and delicious.
The head is saved for the open fire -- above or
under. I’ve never seen this but my sister has: The jaw was separated, that
gave me the chills because I’ve never seen it before. I tried the tongue, it
was really tender but it was really chewy at the same time. The nose was taken
off. Then the meat on the cheeks were taken off and shared with everybody who
helped butcher. The cheek meat was really the best part. It was soft, really
juicy, tender and tasty. We ate all of this with our hands. The next part that
was cut out was the eyes. The guy who did the butchering ate the first eye. In
the back of my mind I thought it was going to be gross, but I said “yes” (to
their offer). I didn’t eat the whole eye, it was cut in half. It was slimy and
very fatty and gooey. I don’t really remember what it tasted like, it was like
a big glob of “jelly-meat.”
This sheep head was cooked underground.
You know when you’re eating mutton, because mutton
is really strong and distinct. It also leaves a strong sheep and meaty smell
when you have it in the house. And the grease! The grease that gets everywhere
is the reason why I don’t like it too much. If you don’t eat it fast enough,
the grease will harden in the stew, in your nails and on the plate.
There are a lot of other traditional Navajo foods
such as; blue corn mush, ground blue corn cooked in hot water and salted or
served with sugar; Navajo tea, which, to me, tastes like you took a fall in the
weeds and you got some of it in your mouth and; Navajo cake, a mix of ground
corn and other sweet things baked underground and comes out dense and kind of
tough – for a cake.
See? There are no special techniques, marinades,
spices, lemon zest or sauces. It’s all very rugged; meat, bread, salt and a
whole green chile/jalapeno on the side. Sometimes it comes with a side of roast
corn, cooked squash, but that’s pretty much it.
In a more modern take, Navajos use all the same
foods everyone else does. During events, and everyday life, there are burritos,
cotton candy, fruit salads, noodle salads, burgers, Navajo burgers (burger in a
fry bread).
There are trucks and trailers across the reservation that serve these delicious foods. I should also mention that we have very, very few restaurants — very few locally owned businesses for that matter. It's all very political and frustrating, but, literally, there are next to no businesses in my town, just a hand full of stores that belong to non-Natives who live states away from our land.
We have also gotten better “rations” from the
government. In recent years, there has been a shift from canned fruits,
vegetables and meat to fresh and frozen ones through the Navajo Nation Food
Distribution, which is kind of like a food stamps program.
Our family is not traditional. I didn’t grow up
eating mutton and caring for sheep – most of us didn’t. We considered it a
treat when we could afford it, or when our friendly neighbors gave us a leg or
rack of ribs for Christmas. We ate spaghetti (mom’s spaghetti is soul food),
chicken fried steak, enchiladas, salads, fish and Chinese food.
I learned to cook from my mom. Although she didn’t
teach me how to make fry bread and tortillas, I know my way around the kitchen
very well because of her. I can make many different things from chicken
Brunswick stew and garlic-lemon salmon to Indian samosas and Afghan korma (lately
I’ve been obsessed with the Middle East and India).
I’m glad I have tasted most of the traditional
foods from my home. I know their value and importance to our people. I
appreciate the thankfulness and waste less culture we have. These dishes and
methods are exotic – even to me – and unique. I’m lucky to have it right at
home. And I’m craving for some fried intestines right now…
