This article first appeared in the Vegetarian Journal, September 1994, published
by The Vegetarian Resource Group
By Rita Laws, Ph.D.
How well we know the stereotype of the rugged Plains Indian: killer of buffalo,
dressed in quill-decorated buckskin, elaborately feathered eaddress, and leather
moccasins, living in an animal skin teepee, master of the dog and horse, and
stranger to vegetables. But this lifestyle, once limited almost exclusively
to the Apaches, flourished no more than a couple hundred years. It is not representative
of most Native Americans of today or yesterday. Indeed, the "buffalo-as-lifestyle"
phenomenon is a direct result of European influence, as we shall see.
Among my own people, the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi and Oklahoma, vegetables
are the traditional diet mainstay. A French manuscript of the eighteenth century
describes the Choctaws' vegetarian leanings in shelter and food. The homes were
constructed not of skins, but of wood, mud, bark and cane. The principal food,
eaten daily from earthen pots, was a vegetarian stew containing corn, pumpkin
and beans. The bread was made from corn and acorns. Other common favorites were
roasted corn and corn porridge. (Meat in the form of small game was an infrequent
repast.) The ancient Choctaws were, first and foremost, farmers. Even the clothing
was plant based, artistically embroidered dresses for the women and cotton breeches
for the men. Choctaws have never adorned their hair with feathers.
The rich lands of the Choctaws in present-day Mississippi were so greatly coveted
by nineteenth century Americans that most of the tribe was forcibly removed
to what is now called Oklahoma. Oklahoma was chosen both because it was largely
uninhabited and because several explorations of the territory had deemed the
land barren and useless for any purpose. The truth, however, was that Oklahoma
was so fertile a land that it was an Indian breadbasket. That is, it was used
by Indians on all sides as an agricultural resource. Although many Choctaws
suffered and died during removal on the infamous "Trail of Tears",
those that survived built anew and successfully in Oklahoma, their agricultural
genius intact.
George Catlin, the famous nineteenth century Indian historian, described the
Choctaw lands of southern Oklahoma in the 1840's this way: "...the ground
was almost literally covered with vines, producing the greatest profusion of
delicious grapes,...and hanging in such endless clusters... our progress was
oftentimes completely arrested by hundreds of acres of small plum trees...every
bush that was in sight was so loaded with the weight of its...fruit, that they
were in many instances literally without leaves on their branches, and quite
bent to the ground... and beds of wild currants, gooseberries, and (edible)
prickly pear." (Many of the "wild" foods Anglo explorers encountered
on their journeys were actually carefully cultivated by Indians.)
Many of the Choctaw foods cooked at celebrations even today are vegetarian.
Corn is so important to us it is considered divine. Our corn legend says that
is was a gift from Hashtali, the Great Spirit. Corn was given in gratitude because
Choctaws had fed the daughter of the Great Spirit when she was hungry. (Hashtali
is literally "Noon Day Sun". Choctaws believe the Great Spirit resides
within the sun, for it is the sun that allows the corn to grow!)
Another Choctaw story describes the afterlife as a giant playground where all
but murderers are allowed. What do Choctaws eat in "heaven"? Their
sweetest treat, of course: melons, a never-ending supply.
More than one tribe has creation legends which describe people as vegetarian,
living in a kind of Garden of Eden. A Cherokee legend describes humans, plants,
and animals as having lived in the beginning in "equality and mutual helpfulness".
The needs of all were met without killing one another. When man became aggressive
and ate some of the animals, the animals invented diseases to keep human population
in check. The plants remained friendly, however, and offered themselves not
only as food to man, but also as medicine, to combat the new diseases.
More tribes were like the Choctaws than were different. Aztec, Mayan, and Zapotec
children in olden times ate 100% vegetarian diets until at least the age of
ten years old. The primary food was cereal, especially varieties of corn. Such
a diet was believed to make the child strong and disease resistant. (The Spaniards
were amazed to discover that these Indians had twice the life-span they did.)
A totally vegetarian diet also insured that the children would retain a life-long
love of grains, and thus, live a healthier life. Even today, the Indian healers
of those tribes are likely to advise the sick to "return to the arms of
Mother Corn" in order to get well. Such a return might include eating a
lot of atole. (The easiest way to make atole is to simmer commercially produced
masa harina corn flour with water. Then flavor it with chocolate or cinnamon,
and sweeten to taste.) Atole is considered a sacred food.
It is ironic that Indians are strongly associated with hunting and fishing when,
in fact, "nearly half of all the plant foods grown in the world today were
first cultivated by the American Indians, and were unknown elsewhere until the
discovery of the Americas." Can you imagine Italian food without tomato
paste, Ireland without white potatoes, or Hungarian goulash without paprika?
All these foods have Indian origins.
An incomplete list of other Indian foods given to the world includes bell peppers,
red peppers, peanuts, cashews, sweet potatoes, avocados, passion fruit, zucchini,
green beans, kidney beans, maple syrup, lima beans, cranberries, pecans, okra,
chocolate, vanilla, sunflower seeds, pumpkin, cassava, walnuts, forty-seven
varieties of berries, pineapple, and, of course, corn and popcorn.
Many history textbooks tell the story of Squanto, a Pawtuxent Indian who lived
in the early 1600's. Squanto is famous for having saved the Pilgrims from starvation.
He showed them how to gather wilderness foods and how to plant corn.
There have been thousands of Squantos since, even though their names are not
so well-known. In fact modern day agriculture owes its heart and soul to Indian-taught
methods of seed development, hybridization, planting, growing, irrigating, storing,
utilizing and cooking. And the spirit of Squanto survives to this day. One example
is a Peruvian government research station tucked away in a remote Amazon Indian
village called Genaro Herrera. University trained botanists, agronomists and
foresters work there, scientifically studying all the ways the local Indians
grow and prepare food. They are also learning how to utilize forests without
destroying them, and how to combat pests without chemicals.
The trend that moved some North American Indian tribes away from plant food-based
diets can be traced to Coronado, a sixteenth century Spanish explorer. Prior
to his time, hunting was a hobby among most Indians, not a vocation. The Apaches
were one of the few tribes who relied heavily on animal killing for survival.
But all that changed as Coronado and his army traversed the West and Midwest
from Mexico. Some of his horses got away and quickly multiplied on the grassy
plains. Indians re-tamed this new denizen, and the Age of Buffalo began.
Horses replaced dogs as beasts of burden and offered excellent transportation.
This was as important an innovation to the Plains Indians as the automobile
would be to Anglos later on. Life on the Plains became much easier very quickly.
>From the east came another powerful influence: guns. The first American
settlers brought their firearms with them. Because of the Indian "threat",
they were soon immersed in weapons development and succeeded in making more
accurate and powerful weapons. But they also supplied weapons to Indians who
allied themselves with colonial causes. Because it was so much easier to kill
an animal with a rifle than with a bow and arrow, guns spread quickly among
the Indians. Between the horse and the rifle, buffalo killing was now much simpler.
The Apaches were joined by other tribes, such as the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapahos,
Comanches, and Kiowas. These tribes "lost the corn", gave up agriculture,
and started living nomadic existences for the first time. It wasn't long before
their food, clothing, and shelter were entirely dependent on one animal, the
buffalo.
George Catlin lamented this fact as early as 1830. He predicted the extinction
of the buffalo (which very nearly happened) and the danger of not being diversified.
Catlin pointed out that, were the Plains Indians only killing a buffalo for
their own use, the situation might not be so grave. But because the great beasts
were being slaughtered for profit, they were destined to be wiped out.
It was the white man who profited. There was an insatiable Eastern market for
buffalo tongue and buffalo robes. In 1832, Catlin described a wholesale buffalo
slaughter carried out by six hundred Sioux on horseback. These men killed fourteen
hundred animals, and then took only their tongues. These were traded to whites
for a few gallons of whiskey. The whiskey, no doubt, helped to dull the Indian
talent to make maximum use of an animal. Among the tribes who did not trade
with whites, each animal was completely used, down to the hooves. No part went
to waste. And buffalo were not killed in the winter, for the Indians lived on
autumn dried meat during that time.
But now buffalo were killed in the winter most of all. It was in cold weather
that their magnificent coats grew long and luxuriant. Catlin estimated that
200,000 buffalo were killed each year to make coats for people back East. The
average hide netted the Indian hunter one pint of whiskey.
Had the Indians understood the concept of animal extinction, they may have ceased
the slaughter. But to the Indians, the buffalo was a gift from the Great Spirit,
a gift which would always keep coming. Decades after the disappearance of huge
herds, Plains Indians still believed their return was imminent. They danced
the Ghost Dance, designed to bring back the buffalo, and prayed for this miracle
as late as 1890.
In spite of the ease and financial incentives of killing buffalo, there were
tribes that did not abandon the old ways of the Plains. In addition to the farming
tribes of the Southeast, tribes in the Midwest, Southwest, and Northwest stuck
to agriculture. For example, the Osage, Pawnee, Arikaras, Mandans, Wichitas,
and Caddoans remained in permanent farming settlements. Even surrounded by buffalo,
they built their homes of timber and earth. And among some of the Indians of
the Southwest, cotton, basketry, and pottery were preferred over animal-based
substitutes like leather pouches.
Catlin was eerily accurate when he predicted dire consequences for the buffalo-dependent
tribes. To this day, it is these Indians who have fared the worst from assimilation
with other races. The Sioux of South Dakota, for one, have the worst poverty
and one of the highest alcoholism rates in the country. Conversely, the tribes
who depended little or not at all on animal exploitation for their survival,
like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, and Chickasaw, are thriving and growing,
having assimilated without surrendering their culture.
In the past, and in more than a few tribes, meat-eating was a rare activity,
certainly not a daily event. Since the introduction of European meat-eating
customs, the introduction of the horse and the gun, and the proliferation of
alcoholic beverages and white traders, a lot has changed. Relatively few Indians
can claim to be vegetarians today.
But it was not always so. For most Native Americans of old, meat was not only
not the food of choice, its consumption was not revered (as in modern times
when Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving as if it were a religious duty). There
was nothing ceremonial about meat. It was a plant, tobacco, that was used most
extensively during ceremonies and rites, and then only in moderation. Big celebrations
such as Fall Festivals centered around the harvest, especially the gathering
of the corn. The Choctaws are not the only ones who continue to dance the Corn
Dance.
What would this country be like today if the ancient ways were still observed?
I believe it is fair to say that the Indian respect for non-human life forms
would have had a greater impact on American society. Corn, not turkey meat,
might be the celebrated Thanksgiving Day dish. Fewer species would have become
extinct, the environment would be healthier, and Indian and non-Indian Americans
alike would be living longer and healthier lives. There might also be less sexism
and racism, for many people believe that, as you treat your animals (the most
defenseless), so you will treat your children, your women, and your minorities.
Without realizing it, the Indian warriors and hunters of ages past played right
into the hands of the white men who coveted their lands and their buffalo. When
the lands were taken from them, and the buffalo herds decimated, there was nothing
to fall back on. But the Indians who chose the peaceful path and relied on diversity
and the abundance of plants for their survival were able to save their lifestyles.
Even after being moved to new lands they could hang on, re-plant, and go forward.
Now we, their descendants, must recapture the spirit of the ancient traditions
for the benefit of all people. We must move away from the European influences
that did away with a healthier style of living. We must again embrace our brothers
and sisters, the animals, and "return to the corn" once and for all.
(Rita Laws is Choctaw and Cherokee. She lives and writes in Oklahoma. Her Choctaw
name, Hina Hanta, means Bright Path of Peace, which is what she considers vegetariansim
to be. She has been vegetarian for over 14 years.)