California

California’s geography—its rivers, valleys, deserts, gorges, lakes, streams, forests, marshlands, estuaries, fertile Central Valley, and extensive coastline—supports an overwhelming variety of flora and fauna, which for thousands of years has shaped the diet of those who lived in what is today California. Historians’ best estimates suggest that nomadic groups of peoples originating in Asia first visited what is today California beginning in about 12,000 bce. These groups were followed by successive waves of peoples, some of whom settled permanently. Their diets reflected the local climate and ecology. In the northwestern California rain forest, salmon and trout were the major protein source, while groups living along the coast hunted sea mammals and gathered shellfish. For those living east of the Sierras, the staple food was the pine nut, especially the nut of the piñon pine. In the southern deserts, mesquite beans and the leaves of the century plant provided food. California Indians living along the lower Colorado River in southeastern California practiced agriculture, and raised corn, beans, and squashes.