The Indigenous Pantry

When I first started researching Native foods, I was fascinated with the idea of the food cache. I had read an old Lakota legend about a hermit who lived in woods far to the east who taught a brother and sister to bury their seeds and their harvest foods to keep them safe. Such legends, folktales, and stories provide insight to ancient cultures and are rich with meaning. When I discovered Buffalo Bird Woman’s detailed account of an indigenous pantry, I was beyond excited. It was clear to me that all the dry foods, oils, salts, and seasonings kept buried or stored away for the long winters were the true base of the flavors of indigenous foods. Here was the best example of foods that people would be drawing on throughout the entire year. I can picture those ancestral pantries brimming with varieties of dried corn seeds and meals, dried squash rings, assorted vegetable flours, an apothecary of herbs and seasonings, ashes, salts, and roots.