The Cherokee people, originally inhabiting the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, possessed a rich and diverse food culture deeply intertwined with their history, traditions, and environment. Their diet, a blend of gathered, grown, and hunted foods, reflects their adaptability to varying regional conditions and seasonal changes. Community played a vital role in Cherokee culture, with food serving as a central element in bringing people together.
Regional Variations and Seasonal Adaptations
The Cherokee people's diet was not monolithic; it varied across the different regions they inhabited. The Cherokee people were spread out in three different regions, and each region was different. For example, some clans lived in the Coastal Plains, where sandy soil made vegetation growth challenging. Consequently, their diet leaned heavily on meat, particularly seafood due to the abundance of rivers. Those who lived in the Appalachian Region ate a lot of seafood during a few months of the year, and had a good amount during the rest of the year as well.
Another factor influencing their food choices was the seasonality of food availability. In different seasons, food could be abundant or scarce. During times of scarcity, the Cherokee had limited options, emphasizing the critical link between food and survival.
The Sacred "Three Sisters"
Despite regional and seasonal variations, the "Three Sisters" - squash, corn, and beans - formed the cornerstone of the Cherokee diet. Almost all of their meals contained these. These crops were not only dietary staples but also held cultural significance, thriving when grown together in a symbiotic relationship. Squash, corn and beans were known as the "Three Sister". They were called this because they thrived when they grew together. Corn draws nitrogen from the soil, while beans replenish it, creating a mutually beneficial system.
Meat Consumption: A Significant Component
Despite the importance of the "Three Sisters," meat constituted a significant portion of the Cherokee diet, especially for those residing in the Coastal Plains with less fertile soil. They ate wild hogs, turkey, white tailed deer, buffalo, elk, squirrel and rabbit. These were the animals that were generally available in their areas, so they were easier to hunt. They also hunted bear. The fat of the bear could be used as a mosquito repellent when it was mixed with roots of golden seal. In leaner times, dogs were also consumed.
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Fishing was another essential source of sustenance, particularly for those near the coast. Fish was a constant supply of food through the year. The wider and longer rivers on the Coastal Plains, due to the marshes and swamps, facilitated fishing. The Cherokee people were not allowed to eat opossums because they considered them as scavengers so their meat was considered unclean.
Gathering Greens and Other Plant Foods
The Cherokee diet also included a variety of gathered greens, berries, roots, and pumpkins. The Cherokee people also ate some greens in their diet. Other than the "Three Sisters", the Cherokee people ate non poisonous plants, berries, roots and pumpkins. Women played a crucial role in gathering wild plants, wild onions, mushrooms, berries, and grapes, utilizing the diverse flora of their environment. These were the greens that were available in their areas. Plants like cattail and hummingbird blossoms were found in the area they lived and the Cherokee people used them as medicine. They also cultivated peaches, sweet potatoes, and watermelons, enriching their diet with essential nutrients. In all three regions that the Cherokee lived in, there was a tree called the Black Gum Tree. The bark of the Black Gum Tree was used in a tea for chest pains.
Cooking Methods and Culinary Creations
The Cherokee people typically cooked their food, ensuring its safety and digestibility. They always cooked the meat they hunted so they could be sure that the meat was safe to eat. Corn, beans, pumpkins, and nuts were ground into flour, while meat was processed into pemmican, a type of paste. From the flour, they made fry bread which was a popular dish for a lot of Native American groups. These ingredients formed the basis for meals like corn soup, pemmican with wild rice or prairie turnips, and bean and corn soup. The Cherokee people usually ate their berries raw.
Post-Contact Dietary Shifts
Contact with European settlers brought significant changes to the Cherokee food system. Fruits of European origin were transplanted into already extant orchards and forests nearby, the prevalence of wild hog made it a food that was available when no other meats could be found, and Charleston harbor began to import Western spices, rice, and beans from the harbor to trading posts. American traders and merchants flooded the frontier after the American Revolution and during. With them, they brought even more iron cookware, pans, instruments and devices Cherokee people were quick to adopt, and adapt to our traditional foodways. The introduction of new foods and cooking methods led to a blending of traditional practices with American cookeries.
The Impact of Displacement and Assimilation
The forced removal of Cherokee people from their homelands and relocation to reservations had a devastating impact on their traditional foodways. The Federal Indian Removal Act of 1830 forcefully removed more than 100,000 American Indians to Oklahoma Territory. In 1864, the Diné endured the Long Walk, a forced relocation from Arizona to New Mexico. The Trail of Tears in 1868 removed the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Nations to Oklahoma. Game lands and forests that once supplied several towns were hewn down for roads, towns, European style farming, and cattle pasturage. Canebrakes and other native plants were used as easy silage for cattle and hogs, gnawing holes into maintained forests. The destruction of traditional food sources, coupled with the provision of commodity foods like lard, flour, coffee, sugar, and canned meat, resulted in dramatic dietary changes and adverse health outcomes, including increased rates of obesity and diabetes.
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Contemporary Challenges and Revitalization Efforts
Today, Cherokee communities face numerous challenges related to food access and health, including food insecurity and the prevalence of processed foods. Healthy eating in the modern world is not always easy. Fast food and prepackaged foods offer inexpensive and easy alternatives to healthier foods or cooking from scratch. Even in remote locations, you can find snacks like burgers, chips, candies and sodas. However, there is a growing movement to revitalize traditional food systems and promote food sovereignty. Tribal Nations are restoring traditional food systems and rebuilding relationships with the land, water, plants, and animals. Native communities can begin by conducting a food sovereignty assessment to understand their current food system and plan how to regain control of their local food system. The Sicangu Food Sovereignty Initiative (SFSI) was developed by the Rosebud of South Dakota with input from community elders, local producers, and partner organizations. These efforts include:
- Food Sovereignty Assessments: Evaluating the current food system and developing strategies to regain control over local food resources.
- Regenerative Agriculture: Implementing sustainable farming practices that prioritize environmental health and food production.
- Tribal Food Codes: Creating regulations that recognize and support traditional harvesting and food preparation techniques.
- Local Farmer Support: Organizing small farmers to collectively supply produce to local institutions.
- Mobile Grocery Markets: Providing access to nutritious food in underserved communities.
- Educational Programs: Engaging elders and educating communities about traditional diets and practices.
- Promoting Physical Activity: Encouraging hunting, gathering, gardening, and traditional food preparation.
Traditional Recipes and Ingredients
Preserving traditional recipes and utilizing native ingredients are vital aspects of maintaining Cherokee food culture. The information on this page, including the recipes and videos, were provided by the research of Watson Harlan. Watson is a member of the Painttown Community, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a lifelong resident of the Eastern Band. One example is the use of nixtamalization, a process of using wood ashes or lye to turn corn meal into hominy corn. Another is Aggie Ross’s Bean Bread Recipe, with fresh meal corn, pounded in a Kanona, a traditional mortar for grinding meal. Oral history is quintessentially Cherokee. To learn stories from our elders, and to pass along information that has been known for generations is what makes us natives. To know how to harvest ramps correctly, how to boil and clean wisi, or the memories we make getting rust on our fingers from picking sochan, all these things are native history and culture.
Here are a few examples of traditional Cherokee recipes:
- Grape Dumplings: A dessert made from boiling grapes, mashing them, and adding cornmeal.
- Chestnut Bread: A bread made with chestnuts and cornmeal, wrapped in green fodder or corn shucks and boiled.
- Kanuchi Soup: A soup made from pulverized hickory nuts, traditionally prepared in a hollowed-out log.
- Fry Bread: A standard dish among many Native American tribes, made from fried dough and often served with various toppings.
- Wild Onions and Eggs: Wild onions fried with eggs, a popular dish in eastern Oklahoma.
The Cultural Significance of Food
Food plays a central role in Cherokee thought, representing community, social rules, and obligations. Food is singularly one of the most important and binding elements of Cherokee thought, presenting us with community, social rules and obligations, and being the basis for even our word for Civics (Ga-du-gi), being cognate with Bread (Ga-du). It is deeply intertwined with Cherokee identity and cultural preservation. In this way as it is made, corn grains give up a bit of themselves to be part of the whole, that is better for it. So we are brought together just like the bread is by community, and we are thus brought together by the bread.
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