FOOD ACQUISITION AND STORAGE METHODS AMONG AMERICAN INDIANS IN SOUTHEAST NORTH AMERICA

 

FOOD ACQUISITION AND STORAGE METHODS AMONG AMERICAN INDIANS IN  SOUTHEAST NORTH AMERICA

 

Charles A. Lott Jr.

Carrolton Georgia.

 

Abstract

When Asians migrated north, crossed the Bering Strait and made their way southward through North America thousands of years ago, a subsistence pattern began that lasted thousands of years with little change except those mitigated by climate changes. Those people were hunter-gatherers, a successful strategy that allowed mobility and populations to disperse around the continent. Two major developments brought change to these people’s lives and how they acquired foods: The development of maize into a product that could build food surpluses and the introduction of European foods, domestic animals, and tools beginning in the 15^th century.

This article focuses on those foods that were utilized by the Native Americans who were located in the southeastern part of North America during the historic period, primarily the Cherokee and Creek tribes. However to gain an understanding of the sustenance patterns during this time period, it is necessary to incorporate the processes which led to the determination of food choice and the acquisition methods that were utilized to acquire and store them for future use.

*************************************************************

Indians who lived in the southeastern part of North America initially depended upon hunter-gatherer methods to acquire food for themselves and their families. The locations in which they lived had great influences on how they went about their daily routines and what they consumed (Kavasch 1997, xxvi). Those residing close to waterways could rely heavily upon fishing and less upon hunting; those who lived inland could do the opposite. The southeastern region of North America provided abundant waterways and fertile soils, as well as a huge variety of native plants from which the Indians could choose (Hudson 1976: 15,16,18). These people developed a culture of knowledge of which plants were suitable for foods and medicines, where they could be located and when they would be available. They developed hunting strategies that utilized the weaponry that was available, and they embraced new technologies and methods that made that acquisition easier (Buchannan 1997:1).

Native Americans considered food more than nourishment for the body; it was also the backbone of their spirituality and ceremonial lives (Hudson 1976: 272,273). They knew, especially when they had no food surplus, that they were upon the mercy of the land, and that events such as severe drought or natural disasters could mean starvation (Buchannan 1997: 59-62). Indians gave thanks for every plant that they harvested and for every animal that they killed for food. In his book, Native Harvest author E. Barrie Kavasch describes the relationship thusly: “Native people knew the importance of making prayers and offerings to key plants before any of them could be harvested” . He also acknowledges that Indians depended upon these same plants for medicines. Kavasch comments, [for Indians], “Collecting plants in a sacred manner activates their therapeutic qualities to the highest levels” (Kavasch 1975: xii). Food was a key component in all Native American ceremonial functions, it was central to their creation myths, and became the marker of the seasons in these cultures (Buchannan 1997:65, 66).

Gender roles of Indians were also determined with the gathering and harvesting of foods. Men were hunters, women and children gathered (Buchannan 1997:16). Their diets consisted of nuts, berries, fruits, wild grasses, fish, and game (Kavasch 1997: xxvi-xxviii). The primary large meat animal in the southeast was the white tail deer; an animal that was plentiful in the region. Indian hunters developed techniques that allowed these animals to be harvested for fresh meat when needed (Hudson 1976: 274). Native Americans dietary habits and consumption patterns were different to that of Europeans at the time, who were accustomed to the three meals that are common in America today (Kavasch 1976:90).

 

“Most Indian tribes enjoyed only one full meal each day; a combination of breakfast and lunch, which they ate before noon. This was the time for hearty food, a robust rack of game or broiled fish, a crisp salad, baked pumpkin or squash, crunchy hazelnut cakes. The men ate first, usually from a wooden or earthenware bowls. Afterward, the women and children ate what was left” (Kavasch 1976:90).

 

The development of Maize into a staple crop changed the Indian’s lives in distinctive ways, however author Charles Hudson wrote in his book, The Southeastern Indians, “agriculture influenced rather than shaped the fundamental nature of their cultural and social organization”. While formerly living on the higher ridges and lands in the southeast, successful production of Maize required the fertile sandy loam soils of the river bottoms. Indians moved to the lowlands and established agriculture systems. This new subsistence strategy allowed more food to be grown than was needed in some years. Agriculture meant staying put while waiting for a crop to mature, a significant change from the hunter-gatherer system of constantly moving in search of the best and most plentiful food sources. Surplus food production also had other implications. It provided enough dependable food to support increased populations, the devolvement of political systems, and social support systems. Agriculture also brought changes to the land. Instead of the former methods in which Indians planted along trails in sunny spots and left the crops to be harvested later, in the riverine methods, land was cleared and community gardens planted. Men girdled trees and allowed them to die to be removed later, and then burned the underbrush (Foster 2007: 139, Hudson 1976:292, 295). Women were the primary gardeners (Foster 2007: 139, Hudson 1976:292, 295).

Surpluses of foods also required that methods to preserve the crops and prevent theft also had to be developed. Structures and methods, which were unfamiliar to Europeans, were developed and constructed and held community crops in most areas, which allowed for communal food sharing among the people (Buchannan 1997:46). In her book, Brother Crow, Sister Corn, author Carol Buchannan notes that,

“In 1700, a traveler described it this way: They [Indians] make for themselves cribs in very curious manner, where in they secure their corn from vermin, which are more frequent in these warm climates than in countries more distant from the sun. These retty fabrics are…well daubed within and without upon laths, which loam or clay, which makes them tight and fit to keep out the smallest insect, there being a small door at the gable end, which is made of the same composition and to be removed at pleasure, being no bigger than a slender man may creep in it, cementing the door up with the same earth when they take the corn out of the crib and are going home, always finding their granaries in the same posture they left them in –theft to each other being unpracticed” (Buchannan 1997:46).

 

Charles Hudson also details much of the techniques that were incorporated to dry foods for future use . The hot, dry summer days of the southeast were especially suited to the Indians methods of “drying some of their fruits and vegetables in the heat of the sun”. He continues that “a quicker way to dry food was to put it on hurdles over an open fire. A hurdle was simply a horizontal framework of woven saplings and canes resting on four posts . Indians also smoked meat for preservation using green hickory wood, “to give the meat a smoky flavor and aroma to the meat dried over it (Hudson 1976: 300).

Surpluses of food also allowed some people freedom from constantly looking for food as in the Hunter-Gatherer methods, and this made opportunities for these people to develop into community leaders such as chiefs or Mikos. These people gained prestige and power by having the ability to distribute the surplus food stores, which was to the most valuable commodity of the tribes (Wesson 1999:145). “The ability of elites to control surplus foods and communal storage facilities,” wrote author Cameron B. Wesson in the journal, World Archeology, “played a major role in the emergence of chiefdoms in southeastern north America”. He also notes that the development of individuals to store their own food surpluses “played an important part in their [Chiefdoms] collapse” in the historic periods [ad 1500-1750] (Wesson 1999:145).

Environmental factors, such as drought, overabundance of rainfall or other natural elements also had consequences for southeastern Indian political hierarchies (Anderson, Stahle, and Cleveland 1995:280). Writing in the journal American Antiquity, authors David G. Anderson, David. W. Stahle, and Malcolm K. Cleveland state that “Crop failures brought about by droughts, flooding, or other catastrophes would have threatened the stability of agricultural chiefdoms by reducing the production surpluses the elites needed to maintain their authority” (Anderson, Stahle, and Cleveland 1995:280).

The influence of Europeans contact in North America is well documented, with the majority of the emphasis on the introduction disease that natives had no immunity to combat. However Native Americans also had significant impact upon the culture and diet of Europeans, especially in the New World (Kavasch, 1975: xxvi). “Almost 75% of our present [North American] food plants were new to the Europeans five hundred years ago,” writes Barrie Kavasch, also noting that:

“Captain John Smith, writing in 1607, noted that the settlers of Jamestown Va. Would have starved if the Indians of the region had not brought Corn, Squash, and beans to them. The famous ‘three sisters’ soon became the most important foods in pioneer America. Their planting, harvesting, and preparation reflected the myriad native usages and customs” (Kavasch, 1975: xxvi).

 

The combination of the ‘Three Sisters,” Maize, beans and squash were the ideal combination of interdependent plants that aided the production of each individual species. Maize depleted the soil of nitrogen; beans returned the nutrient to the soil. The corn stalk provided a trellis on which the bean vines could wind their way up, and Squash provided the necessary ground cover to keep weeds and foreign plants at bay (Hudson 1976: 293).

Native Americans became dependent upon foreign trade items, such as cloth, tools, gunpowder, not the least, alcohol. Interacting with Europeans, trade for these foreign goods brought about, for some Native Americans, abandonment of their long held spiritual beliefs regarding harvesting animals, exemplified by the massive deer harvests of 1700-1750 in which Indians shipped approximately 53,000 skins from the Charleston port alone.

(Buchannan 1997: 7, 91, Hudson 1976: 316) Author E. Barrie Kavasch as describes that special traditional relationship between Native Americans and animals:

“American Indians living close to their traditional beliefs consider that all the life giving forces deserve respect. Some see this as a continual dance of reciprocity: if we take something, the life of a plant or animal, then something must be given in return. This is to gain their special nurturing blessings. People might offer a prayer, song, a pinch of pollen, cornmeal, bearberry, or tobacco to the particular plant or animal before its life is taken” (Kavasch 1975: 146).

 

The storage of fresh meats was problematic, however natives learned methods to dry meats for future use, especially in soups and stews (Hudson 1976:300). As agriculture developed and more sedentary households appeared, people became more dependent on domesticating and raising many of their vegetables and other plant foods . “In the southeastern woodlands, people living in the present states of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi had extensive plots of vegetables” . When soils were depleted of vital nutrients necessary for dependable harvests, Women of the tribe, the principal gardeners, decided when and where to move for fresh soils for their crops (Buchanan 1997:33).

 

“The more settled people of the eastern woodlands, the Creeks, the Cherokee, or the Iroquois, who lived in the same towns year round for several years, moved the towns every six to twelve years. When William Bartram asked why the lower Creeks, who lived on the Chattahoochee river were moving, they told him that they needed fresh land for their plantations and a new and more extensive hunting ground” (Buchannan 1997:33).

 

Indian sustenance strategies during the historic period were the culmination of the Native’s collective experiences regarding selections of plant materials. Hunting and fishing methods were refined and improvements constantly developed which increased the efficiency of the Indian hunter’s endeavors (Hudson 1976: 272-284). New plant materials, however, were constantly found and made use of for food, medicinal, and ceremonial purposes (Moerman 2010: 10).

Perhaps the most valuable non-meat foods were root crops, nuts, seeds and berries. These were used for “flour, pastes, oil, butter, pottages and dyes” (Kavasch, 1977: 5, Moerman 2010: 303). Among the most common among the Cherokee and Creeks were Oak Acorns, Beechnuts, Hickory nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds as well as squash seeds (Moerman 2010: 303). Most certainly Indians made use of walnuts, and the nuts of non-domesticated pecan trees. “Nuts were an important item in the Indian’s diet and as winter progressed and the food supply became low, they depended more and more upon them for nourishment” (Kavasch, 1977:5). Nuts and seeds stored well, they had the ability to be eaten raw or cooked, and was a staple that could be easily packed and quickly consumed on hunting expeditions or as needed when working in gardens or performing other household tasks (Kavasch 1977: 7, Hudson 1976:286, 301). Author Kavasch also wrote that “Nuts were pounded into meal to be used in breads, soups, and for seasonings, they were also ground into a mortar with water to make a flavorful “nut milk to add to various dishes” (Kavasch 1977: 7). The resulting mixture was described to have a cream like texture that was used in many corn dishes (Kavasch 1977: 7). In his reference book, Native American Food Plants, author Daniel E. Moerman describes an important root crop that was vital to the southeastern Indians, the Hog peanut. The Hog peanut, according to the author, “is an underground fruit used to make bean bread. Underground fruit is cooked like pinto beans or added to cornmeal and hot water” (Moerman , 2010: 47)

Indians of the southeast were proficient makers of breads, and utilized a variety of flours for their loaves (Kavasch 2010: 121). Natives also developed chemical means to improve foodstuffs (Kavasch 2010: 121). Barrie Kavasch writes “Indians discovered the special properties of ashes mixed with foods or water. They saw that corn soaked in water with ashes became whiter and puffier and acquired a unique flavor” (Kavasch 2010: 121). Kavasch also adds that this lye soaked corn “became Hominy, which was fermented into sour soup, fried with meats or wild greens, or baked into custard like puddings” (Kavasch 2010: 121). Corn had many other uses as well. Dried kernels were pounded or ground, into varying degrees of coarseness. In the rougher, larger grinds, corn became Grits.   In the finer ground version, corn became cornmeal, which was used to make cornpones or cornbread. Another use of Hominy was to make Sofkee, which was an all-purpose food staple for the Southeastern Indians (Hudson 1976: 305). It served as a snack food, a quick meal or as part of ceremonial functions (Hudson 1976: 305). Indians, according to Charles Hudson, “often set it in a moderately warm place and allowed it to sour or ferment. They usually drank it cold” (Hudson 1976: 305). Hudson further describes the preparation of Sofkee as, “When the hominy was done they poured it into an earthen jar, taking out portions to eat when they wanted it” (Hudson 1976: 305).

One of the most useful food plants of which the Indians made use was the Cattail Tapha lafiolia (Moerman 2010: 260). This plant grew abundantly in marshes and along the edges of ponds and lakes (Moerman 2010: 260). Every part of this useful plant can be used in some fashion. The pollen, mixed with cornmeal, is used in a traditional recipe for Cattail Pollen Cakes (Moerman 2010: 260). Other wild plants were incorporated into bread recipes also, such as pumpkins and wild strawberries (Moerman 2010: 260). Acorns from White and Red Oak trees were processed into flours as well, and these are used today in making traditional Indian breads (Foster 2007:139).

Southeastern Indians followed strict social and religious regiments regarding which animals could or could not be taken for food, and how those animals would be prepared (Hudson, 1977: 318). Hudson details that, “birds that ate flesh-such as eagles, crows, buzzards, swallows, and owls- were abominations and could not ordinarily be used as human food”(Hudson, 1977: 318). He continued, “The same was true of animals that ate flesh, such as the cougar, wolf, and fox” (Hudson, 1977: 318).

The whitetail deer fit into categories that made it an ideal animal as a meat source for southeastern Indians (Hudson 1976:274-75). The consumption of its flesh was not hindered by taboo restrictions (Hudson 1976:274-75). Deer was plentiful in southern forests, and Indians employed sophisticated methods to harvest it. The natives made elaborate camouflage for themselves, using deerskins with attached heads and antlers (Hudson 1976:274-75). During the fall of the year, male deer go into the ‘rut’, a time in which females are receptive to breeding. The male deer are aggressive and less inclined to notice the Indian intruders wearing the elaborate costume (Hudson1976:274-75). The ploy was to get as close to the deer target as possible, thereby raising the likelihood of success of the hunter’s weapons (Hudson 1976: 274-75). There were elements of danger for the hunter, also. The rutting male deer could perceive the masqueraded hunter as a rival for breeding rights and attack, or in some cases, other Indians may mistake the disguised hunter as the whitetail prey (Hudson1976: 274-75). Natives also harvested rabbit, raccoon, quail, goose, and assorted waterfowl(Hudson 1976: 281). Of the smaller animals, according to Hudson, “ the raccoon and the opossum were the most important sources of meat,” adding that, “Small game animals were often trapped with snares or other devices” (Hudson 1976: 281). These animals were frequently included into stews that included both gathered as well as gardened ingredients (Kavasch 1977: 93).

Southeastern Indian diets also included seafood as staples when available (Hudson 1976: 282). Women were the predominant fishers, and used several methods to catch their prey (Hudson 1976: 282). Nets, weirs, as well as spearing fish were commonplace (Hudson 1976: 282). Fish trapped in oxbow lakes were easily harvested and natives used dugout canoes to access deeper waters where larger fish might be found (Hudson 1976: 282). Hudson also described Indians looking to harvest large catfish. He writes that it “was not uncommon for blue cats to weigh in excess of one hundred pounds, and catfish ranks with salmon in having the highest caloric content of any fish” (Hudson 1976: 282). When not consumed immediately, fish could be dried in the sun as a method to preserve its flesh for later use, predominately in soups and stews (Kavasch 1977:116). When cooking the fish, various methods were employed. One of which is described in that a whole freshly caught fish is buried in a “blanket of clay” and allowed to sit by the fire until the clay is hard, then the clay is buried in the ashes for one hour. When ready, the cook breaks the clay envelope open and removed the cooked fish (Kavasch 1977:116).

Native Americans also used the land as a bounty from which to make beverages (Kavasch 1977:130). Nearly all drinks were water based, and the inclusion of wild plants into these beverages added taste as well as key vitamins (Kavasch 1977:130). Indian knowledge of these drink recipes that were shared with early pioneers were key to the ability of the Europeans to ward off scurvy, since many of the natives drinks contained vitamin C (Kavasch 1977:130) Many of these flavorings caused the drink to be bitter, but “bitterness was considered beneficial, a cleansing strengthening tonic for the system”(Kavasch 1977:130).

The most common ingredients used to flavor water were Acorns, barberry, bearberry, beechnut, birch, clover, dandelion, dill, elderberry, grape, juniper, maple, persimmon, spicebush, sumac, sunflower, and wild sarsaparilla (Kavasch 1977:140, Moerman 2101: 303)

Wild plant tonics were also key components in rituals and ceremonies (Hudson 1976: 226). Charles Hudson describes one of the most important and widely used among the southeastern Indians, Black Drink (Hudson 1976: 226). “Black drink purified men of pollution, served as symbolic social cement, and it was an ultimate expression of hospitality” (Hudson 1976: 226). He continued, “It was made from the leaves of a variety of Holly ilex vomitora which grows along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and which the Indians of the interior sometimes transported so that it would be close at hand (Hudson 1976: 226). The botanical name vomitora can be misleading. It was not the components of the Holly’s tea that made the Indians vomit, it was the mass quantity of the drink that they consumed (Hudson 1976: 226). The purging of the stomach’s contents was the desired effect (Hudson 1976: 226). Projectile vomiting cleansed the participant internally in preparation for the ritual at hand (Hudson 1976: 226).

Acorn shells were roasted and steeped in boiling water to make a coffee type drink, which remained popular even into the nineteenth century as a substitute for coffee during the American civil war (Kavasch 1979:129). It was another application of Indian knowledge and adaptability that was transferred to the Europeans (Kavasch 1979:129).

 

 

Conclusion

For Native Americans, food was the essential element of life. Locating, securing, preparing and storing it were daily routines that were developed and passed down from one generation to the next. Food was also essential to their creation myths and key elements in their ritual and ceremonial lives. Europeans, without the native’s knowledge of these plants and animal uses would not have been successful in their colonization goals in the New World.

Certainly, Indians role in the Columbian exchange, those things that went from the new world to the old and vice versa after Europeans landed in North America, was that of one in which the Indians clearly contributed more than they received from their European neighbors.

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Anderson, David G., Stahle, David W., and Cleveland, Malcolm K.

1995     Pale climate and the Potential Food Reserves of Mississippian

Societies: A case Study from the Savannah River Valley. American  

               Antiquity. 60(2) 258-286.

 

Buchannan, Carol

1997     Brother Crow, Sister Corn, Traditional American Indian Gardening

Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA.

 

Crosby, Alfred W. Jr.

2003   The Columbian Exchange, Biological and Cultural Consequences of

1492. Pager Publishing, Westport, CT.

 

Foster, H. Thomas II

2007     Archeology of the Lower Muscogee Creek Indians.

University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.

Hudson, Charles M.

1976     The Southeastern Indians, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.

 

Jackson, H. Edwin and Scott, Susan L.

2003    Patterns of Elite Faunal Utilization at Moundville, Alabama. American

              Antiquity 68(3): 552-572

 

Kavasch, E. Barrie

1977     Native Harvests, American Indian Wild Foods and Recipes.

Dover Publications, Inc. Dover, MD.

 

Moerman, Daniel E.

2010     Native American Food Plants, An Ethnobotanical dictionary

              Timber Press, Portland. London.

 

Reber, Eleanora A. and Evershed, Richard P.

2006   Ancient Vegetarians? Absorbed Pottery Residue Analysis of Diet in the

Late Woodland and Emergent Mississippian Periods of the

Mississippi Valley. Southeastern Archeology 25 (1) 100-120

 

Wesson, Cameron B.

1999   Chiefly Power and Food Storage in Southeastern North America

World Archeology 31(1): 145-164