Byline: Kent Sanmann/College of the Muscogee Nation Natural Resources Department
You are what you eat
If this is true, I’m a lot more McDonalds than I am Kiowa or Chickasaw, my two tribes. Unfortunately, I am sure this is true of most today’s Native Americans. Even if they are eating healthier than McDonalds, the chances they are eating traditional foods rather than the common foods of the mainstream American diet is pretty slim. And if by chance they are eating traditional Native dishes, chances are the sources for the ingredients are from non-Native producers and corn, beans, squash etc. are not traditional tribe varieties, but probably modern commercial crops.
Moreover, modern crops can differ significantly from traditional varieties, in terms of taste, physical characteristics and nutritional content. In other words, making sofkee from hominy purchased from Shawnee Mills is going to be different from sofkee made from a traditional Muscogee or Yuchi variety.
Of course, these days people are using the commercially available ingredients rather than the traditional varieties of corn, beans, pumpkins etc. because those are the only varieties available. This should come as no surprise given the history of the Muscogee people for the past two hundred years. Increased pressure on their society, culture and agriculture from non-Natives, forced removal to a country with totally different soil, geography and climate from the one their agricultural system evolved in, Civil War, increased economic intrusion, and finally allotment, and that’s just the first one hundred years. It is a miracle the Muscogee and Yuchi people survived, let alone any of the traditional crops.
But the Muscogee people have survived, as have some of their traditional corn, pumpkin and peach varieties. I think that in the future they can not only survive but thrive and help the Muscogee people thrive as well by allowing people to return to their original healthy foods and diet. The College of the Muscogee Nation and the College of the Muscogee of the Muscogee Nation Extension Service are attempting to increase the number of seeds to a point where we can grow enough of the surviving crops to actually feed people. If not every day, then at least to where traditional food made with traditional ingredients can be made for wild onion dinners, church dinners, for the ceremonial grounds and other cultural events. This will take time, but the destruction of traditional foods happened over time, but I think with the right resources and commitments we can recover quicker than the time it took to inflict the damage; our seeds are resilient.
This Spring we will be giving seeds to a selected set of experienced growers who will grow the seeds for us, and if all goes well (no hail, tornadoes, severe drought, deer raccoons, etc.) we will get a much greater amount of seed back. One thing that has to be kept in mind is that Native seeds, not just Muscogee seeds, are extremely endangered and rare. In many cases, they are even more endangered than wildlife like tigers and elephants. Consequently, we have a responsibility in my opinion, to make sure that Native seeds survive, just as they helped our ancestors survive for millennium. That means that initially we need to select experienced growers who have enough space to plant enough plants to ensure the genetic viability of the seeds and to keep them from accidentally crossing with modern varieties.
If we manage to increase our seed stock, recruit more growers, find more land and equipment to increase our yields, we will eventually be able to grow on a scale where we can actually make the food that we all love. It could be making sofkee out of traditional Muscogee flint corn, fried pumpkin, or peach cobbler from Muscogee blood peaches. Ultimately, we make seeds available for tribal members to grow these crops on their own, because in the end tribal food sovereignty isn’t just about eating. It is about re-establishing our connections and relationships with not just the domesticated crops, but also the wild plants, animals, trees, and fish that have sustained Muscogee people from the beginning. It will take time, but if we approach it in a responsible way with the right intent, it can happen.
