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I can imagine NA cuisine being no more unified than Mexican, Tex-Mex, New Mexican, Oaxacan, California Mexican, et. al. are under the category of “Mexican”. I g

I can imagine NA cuisine being no more unified than Mexican, Tex-Mex, New Mexican, Oaxacan, California Mexican, et. al. are under the category of “Mexican”. I grew up on Tex-Mex and I was dumbfounded at the sight of a wet burrito?? But you learn and grow :) and I’m sure any emergence of NA cuisine would be similar.

AlotOfReading 5y ago
There's a lot more shared identity today as a result of colonization and the reservation system, which somewhat extends to things like food. Frybreads are a good example since they come directly from the reservation system and the typical ingredients provided by the government for cheap calories: flour, beans, oil, "cheese", and some form of meat, sugar, etc. Despite the common name, it's a shared culinary heritage for many tribes in the US. The real issue is that there's been very little widespread systematization of "traditional" indigenous cookery. We've started seeing that over the past few decades through the efforts of people like Lois Frank and many, many others, but it's a process.
- kevinmchugh 5y ago
  Yeah, this is true and interesting, though I think a lot of (especially the high end) focus on Native American foods is on pre-Columbian cuisines. Btw, If anyone knows any pre-Columbian restaurants for Italian and Indian cuisines, let me know.
- vmception 5y ago
  > There's a lot more shared identity today as a result of colonization and the reservation system, which somewhat extends to things like food. Yes and this nearly amorphous identity is a tragedy that needs unbundling. Scratch the surface and none of it makes sense for any single pre-colonial culture on the whole continent. There are like 300 recognized distinct pre-colonial cultures here at the US federal level, most of which were grandfathered in before a cutoff for the reservation system and additional ones each requiring an act of Congress for recognition, even more at the state level, and even more vying for recognition as they are just noticing and regrouping after ages of separation, in a combination of forced separation or lineage dilution.
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  I can’t help but think there might be a more subtle resurgence of Native American Cuisine with more “authentic” Mexican food becoming more mainstream outside of coastal California and ethnic enclaves, as well as a renewed interest for Bison meat (20 years ago it was pretty rare). > There's a lot more shared identity today as a result of colonization and the reservation system, which somewhat extends to things like food. Frybreads are a good example since they come directly from the reservation system and the typical ingredients provided by the government for cheap calories: flour, beans, oil, "cheese", and some form of meat, sugar, etc. Despite the common name, it's a shared culinary heritage for many tribes in the US. At least this shared identity wasn't built over unmarked graves for children like elsewhere. [0] [1] [2] [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/canada/kamloops-mass-grave-residential-schools.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/canada/kamloops-mas... [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-residential-schools.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-... [2] https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/24/americas/canada-unmarked-graves-discovered/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/24/americas/canada-unmarked-grav...
  - jcranmer 5y ago
    > At least this shared identity wasn't built over unmarked graves for children like elsewhere. Don't kid yourself; the American boarding schools for the Native Americans weren't much better than the Canadian ones, were they any better to begin with. In general, I'd be hard-pressed to declare Canada any better or worse in its treatment of indigenous peoples than the US was--they were both pretty appalling.
  - hydrok9 5y ago
    >At least this shared identity wasn't built over unmarked graves for children like elsewhere. It was....and not just children's graves, either.
prescriptivist 5y ago
> I grew up on Tex-Mex and I was dumbfounded at the sight of a wet burrito?? But you learn and grow :) Maybe for you. I, for one, will never accept rice in a burrito.
zxcvbn4038 5y ago
I remember when asking for “salsa” north of Denver resulted in your eggs being covered in ketchup - and having to get relatives to send me cans of hatch green chilies because pickled jalapeños were the only option in NYC. Things definitely got better, you can go pretty much anywhere in the US and get real salsa now - thank you taco bell for educating people. Today I can buy hatch green chilis in the ethnic isle of most grocery stores in NYC (and you can always order them from Amazon or Walmart). In the northeast poblano peppers are in all the Mexican-ish dishes - huge upgrade from the pickled jalapeños and very close to the hatch chilies I grew up with. Some of the stuff I get at the taco trucks is even more exotic and really wonderful - I’m a big fan of Oaxacan cheese, wish I had discovered that years ago.

AlotOfReading 5y ago

There's a lot more shared identity today as a result of colonization and the reservation system, which somewhat extends to things like food. Frybreads are a good example since they come directly from the reservation system and the typical ingredients provided by the government for cheap calories: flour, beans, oil, "cheese", and some form of meat, sugar, etc. Despite the common name, it's a shared culinary heritage for many tribes in the US. The real issue is that there's been very little widespread systematization of "traditional" indigenous cookery. We've started seeing that over the past few decades through the efforts of people like Lois Frank and many, many others, but it's a process.

kevinmchugh 5y ago
Yeah, this is true and interesting, though I think a lot of (especially the high end) focus on Native American foods is on pre-Columbian cuisines. Btw, If anyone knows any pre-Columbian restaurants for Italian and Indian cuisines, let me know.
vmception 5y ago
> There's a lot more shared identity today as a result of colonization and the reservation system, which somewhat extends to things like food. Yes and this nearly amorphous identity is a tragedy that needs unbundling. Scratch the surface and none of it makes sense for any single pre-colonial culture on the whole continent. There are like 300 recognized distinct pre-colonial cultures here at the US federal level, most of which were grandfathered in before a cutoff for the reservation system and additional ones each requiring an act of Congress for recognition, even more at the state level, and even more vying for recognition as they are just noticing and regrouping after ages of separation, in a combination of forced separation or lineage dilution.
908B64B197 5y ago
I can’t help but think there might be a more subtle resurgence of Native American Cuisine with more “authentic” Mexican food becoming more mainstream outside of coastal California and ethnic enclaves, as well as a renewed interest for Bison meat (20 years ago it was pretty rare). > There's a lot more shared identity today as a result of colonization and the reservation system, which somewhat extends to things like food. Frybreads are a good example since they come directly from the reservation system and the typical ingredients provided by the government for cheap calories: flour, beans, oil, "cheese", and some form of meat, sugar, etc. Despite the common name, it's a shared culinary heritage for many tribes in the US. At least this shared identity wasn't built over unmarked graves for children like elsewhere. [0] [1] [2] [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/canada/kamloops-mass-grave-residential-schools.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/canada/kamloops-mas... [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-residential-schools.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-... [2] https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/24/americas/canada-unmarked-graves-discovered/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/24/americas/canada-unmarked-grav...
- jcranmer 5y ago
  > At least this shared identity wasn't built over unmarked graves for children like elsewhere. Don't kid yourself; the American boarding schools for the Native Americans weren't much better than the Canadian ones, were they any better to begin with. In general, I'd be hard-pressed to declare Canada any better or worse in its treatment of indigenous peoples than the US was--they were both pretty appalling.
- hydrok9 5y ago
  >At least this shared identity wasn't built over unmarked graves for children like elsewhere. It was....and not just children's graves, either.

prescriptivist 5y ago

> I grew up on Tex-Mex and I was dumbfounded at the sight of a wet burrito?? But you learn and grow :) Maybe for you. I, for one, will never accept rice in a burrito.

zxcvbn4038 5y ago

I remember when asking for “salsa” north of Denver resulted in your eggs being covered in ketchup - and having to get relatives to send me cans of hatch green chilies because pickled jalapeños were the only option in NYC. Things definitely got better, you can go pretty much anywhere in the US and get real salsa now - thank you taco bell for educating people. Today I can buy hatch green chilis in the ethnic isle of most grocery stores in NYC (and you can always order them from Amazon or Walmart). In the northeast poblano peppers are in all the Mexican-ish dishes - huge upgrade from the pickled jalapeños and very close to the hatch chilies I grew up with. Some of the stuff I get at the taco trucks is even more exotic and really wonderful - I’m a big fan of Oaxacan cheese, wish I had discovered that years ago.