Native American Foods: Technology and Food Sources: Wild Foods and Foraging

Indigenous women, like those of most ancient cultures, were the traditional foragers and the repositories of essential information. They knew hundreds of plants as well as their locations and seasons. The women knew how to identify, cook, and preserve quantities of gathered material for immediate use or storage. Skills were transmitted orally by older women to girls. This work, like much food-related work, required strong bodies for walking long distances while carrying substantial loads. The women often used specially designed backpack baskets supported securely with head straps and foraged in groups. Some nonfood plant material was used tangentially. Wood ash of specific trees provided alkali for softening the tough hulls of hominy corn and for maintaining color. Some leaves were durable and flavorful and were used as protective wrappings for foods cooked in embers or as lining for cooking pits.