What was the diet of the Native Americans traditionally?

Question

And what does it tend to include nowadays?

Answer 1

Depends on what part of the country you're in. My tribe ate jack rabbits, deer, ground hog, trout, pine nuts, tule, and assorted bugs....

Answer 2

Every tribe had a different diet. And their are many tribes.

Native people were subsistence people. This means they lived off the land.

Some Examples of Indigenous foods:
Roots such as camas
Berries such as huckleberris
Animals such as elk, deer, buffalo
Fish such as salmon
Crops such as corn and wild rice

Examples of tribal differences:
Coastal tribes would eat more fish
Plains tribes would eat more game meat such as buffalo

After Indian Removal Act Native diets were forced to change.
The government removed Natives from the land they knew how to live from onto the lands with the poorest soil, the worst land available. Because of this Natives had a hard time creating new subsitence diets and often times this wasn't legally allowed anyhow. The government did not want Natives hunting and gathering food just anywhere. So Native people were forced to live off of government commodities.
This is canned food, not name brand, usually blank labels (will just say Peas for example). And often the food was infested with bugs. This is where the traditional food Frybread was created. It was created because it was one of the only foods Natives could make using the ingredients the government gave them and it would fill a person up so they wouldn't go hungry. Because of government commodities Natives now have the highest statistical rate of diabetes than any other ethnic group.

Today Natives eat the same food you eat. Natives have access to grocery stores and fast food. Natives still eat frybread. Natives also still eat traditional foods as much as possible. It is a combination diet today.

There have been recent studies done that show that if Natives return to their traditional diets they can control health concerns such as diabetes and heart disease.

By the way, I am a Native woman.

Answer 3

Others have given you some specifics. Allow me to present the big picture. Similar to today, it depended on where they lived and their life style. Some were relatively stationary and grew crops or lived off the sea (SW North America and the NW coasts of North America for example). Others were hunter/gatherers but didn’t travel long distance (NE and the mid section of North America). Still others traveled long distances on a regular basis such as wintering in what is now Minnesota (roughly) and hiking to the northern plains for summer buffalo hunting using the buffalo jumps. (They did this for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the horse. And they walked rather than taking Amtrak because they had to get there on time.)

Answer 4

Whoa - it is so according to tribal location or affiliation. Some tribes were agriculturists, others game hunters, still other (usually coastal) was fish. Nowadays, come on... most me and my pals hang at KFC or Taco Bell like everyone else. Seriously, there is a lot to consider regarding specific diets with cultural emphasis.

Answer 5

, i should say mostly game Deer etc , maize to us sweet corn and succotash , supplemented by natural berries and fruits
I'm afraid as you have probably guessed it has been adulterated by western tastes gone the healthy game and in comes , sugar , Mac Donald's and all the other high carbohydrate nth at make the American Indian prone to Diabetes's and all the results of that

Answer 6

Local plants and animals depending on where they lived.

Today...other then the very health conscious, the same bad junk the rest of us eat...hence the rise of problems like diabetes that their people have seen in the past few generations.

Answer 7

They lived mosly off the Buuffalo,using every bit for food clothes and shelter.They were nomadic so didn't grow crops.
Today's Native American Indian eat what most Americans do .

Answer 8

It depends on the tribe and the region they lived in....
Midwest tribes ate lots of Buffalo, Acorns, nuts, fruits and corn.....

Pacific Tribes ate lots of corn, fish, fruits and nuts they gathered.

Mexican tribes ate lots of corn, fish (coastal areas), tropical fruits, chiles, potatoes, tomatoes

I know the Inca also ate Potatoes and tomatoes along with seafood.

Answer 9

potatos...they were the first people to farm them! very clever that was too. If Europeans would have had potatos in the "little ice age" maybe not so many people would have starved!

Answer 10

pies