The Legacy Of Frybread

 Indigenous frybread has an interesting legacy. Many Native American families love it and have their own recipes. Yet it does have a controversial and sad past of how it came into being. It represents comfort and sadness, sweetness and bitterness..

Kevin Noble Maillard, a law professor at Syracuse University wrote this fascinating piece in yesterday's New York Times Food section along with being a regular contributor to the newspaper. He is an expert on the subject , belonging to the Seminole Tribe in Oklahoma along with writing the children's book Fry Bread : A Native American Family Story. Every tribal family has a fry bread recipe.it was originally created by the Navajo or Dine tribe.It originated 154 years ago when the US government forced Indians in Arizona to make a three hundred mile walk known as "The Long Walk". They had to relocate to New Mexico where they couldn't easily grow the beans and vegetables needed for their recipes. Native cooks had to adapt using government rationed commodities of powdered, preserved and dry goods. It is a painful reminder of how they were treated yet it became a staple at powwows, family dinners and events. The recipe is a basic one. It's a mix of  flour salt baking powder and oil. Water is the only liquid used to make the dough moist. It's similar to the Mexican sopapilla which is the sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

The recipe has been shared by tribal members but it varies from family to family.Ramona Horsechief of the Pawnee Tribe and seven time winner of the National Indian Taco Championship of Pawhuska Oklahoma grows Pawnee blue corn in her garden and mills the flour for a sweeter , denser frybread. Le Etta Osborne-Sampson of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma uses her grandmother's recipe which has sugar in it. The making of frybread is matriarchal as well. Hope Peshlakai was taught as a child by her grandmother and even follows her grandmother's habit of storing her cast iron skillet in her oven. She also had to deal with her husbands aunts who wanted to see her recipe for the bread. Ms. Horsechief uses her grandmother's 125 year old bread poker which is used to flip the bread.Mr. Maillard includes his recipe, undoubtedly a family one  which is easy to make up. He adds sea salt and raw sugar and uses coconut oil for frying for a healthier alternative.It needs to rise for three hours before frying and then fry to the desired color. It could be a light gold to a deep brown depending on how crispy you want it.

Fry bread is a comfort food with a history. It is delicious bringing back memories for so many indigenous. Yet it also has a past that has to be reckoned with , despite its' soothing flavor.

The Trump Effect On Our Eating

It is true that our current president can leave a bitter taste in one's mouth. Now his ideas and decrees are affecting our restaurants. From waitstaff to chefs, they're being hurt by President Trump's reneging of DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The Dreamers that have big dreams are being threatened with their worst nightmares.They'll be forced to go back to the bleakness of their  homelands and the problems that they left there.

The issue - not surprisingly - hit the New York Times Food section today. Fernanada Santos interviewed an up and coming chef, Suny Santana and what he could face. His story is not unusual. He and his family came to Arizona from northern Mexico when he was eleven. His father , although he had a degree in mechanical engineering, along with his mother ,felt that the future would be bleak for their three children, Using tourist visas, they stayed in Phoenix where there would be new world of opportunity for Suny. He was enterprising,  As a teen  he collected plastic bottles and aluminum cans  to resell  to recycling centers. At the age of eighteen he graduated from high school and enrolled in a community college where he studied in a culinary program. That was the first problem. Chef Santana couldn't pay the grossly unfair out of state tuition fee that Arizona required from dreamers at the time ad had to leave.

Luckily there was Aaron Chamberlin, his boss, at the trendy St. Francis Restaurant where he worked.  There was also President Obama's DACA created in 2012, which allowed dreamers such as Chef Santana permission to live and work in the US. He thrived. His skills, along with his hunger to learn and determination impressed Mr. Chamberlin greatly,The restauranteur offered to put him in charge of the restaurant. He did so well that Mr. Chamberlin asked him what he'd want to do next. The answer was opening up a taqueria, He'd either do it with his father or raise the money on his own . Not wanting him as competition Mr. Chamberlain  offered to create a taqueria with him.It will be named Chelo , in honor of  Chef Santana's mother.It is her nickname and she will be the inspiration behind many of the dishes.Her method for tortillas will be used in his kitchen. It involves soaking and cooking wheat in lime water, then draining, rinsing, and hulling it. It is then ground in a hand cranked stone mill to make masa, the dough used to make the tacos.

Hopefully Taco Chelo will be allowed to be a successful restaurant and Chef Santana allowed to be a famous chef. It would be an abomination for him to be deported. It should not happen. We can't let it happen.

Tuscon The Next Food Heritage Site

Tuscon Arizona may be known for lavish spas or beautiful sunsets but food? Surprisingly this desert town is now part of the Unesco World Heritage sites joining the more culinary sophisticated cities  like Lyons, France and Chengdu, China. Tuscon has deep roots to food, along with a varied indigenous and European diet, started centuries ago.

Kim Severson, a regular contributor, wrote about this interesting food-centric city and its' recent honor in today's New York Times Food section.Eight months ago it was the only city in the United States to be designated a City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known by the acronym Unesco. About six years ago the international agency began including food as a part of a cultural heritage worth protecting as it recognizes and protects such diverse dishes as Armenian lavash,the recipes from the Mediterranean diet and the lush gastronomic meals of the French, Tuscon joins not only Chengdu and Lyons but also Parma, Italy,Bergen, Norway and Ensenada, Mexico, The reason why this southern Arizona was selected was explained by its'officer for historic presentation, and the author of the application, Dr. Jonathan Mabry. Towns were chosen because the designation will make a difference. Still, it's a puzzler. After all there is New York City, although the city doesn't celebrate it's indigenous culinary
 heritage  (which is obvious in the oyster beds in surrounding waters and acres of wild grapes grown just outside the city).

Tuscon has a history that stretches back 4,000 years when it was a farming community to local tribes such as the HoHokan and Tohono O'odham.Dr. Mabry was one of the archaeologists, hired by the city in 2000 for a dig  not far from the downtown section. What he found was amazing, There were layers of layers of irrigation trenches and then charred corn.It was proof that this modern day city was built on top of a four millennia old farming village. The surrounding desert can still yield up interesting crops that have created unique dishes with a definite Southwestern taste. There has always been agave,cactus pads and amaranth along with tiny wild peppers called chiltepin. Mesquite is not only used for barbecuing  but also used for baking cookies thanks to its' pods being pounded into a sweet flour.. Descendants of the fruits trees, first planted by Italian born ,Reverend Eusebio Francisco Kino in the 1600's yield up quince, figs and white pomegranates, the last with a taste that combines apples and grapefruits. Tuscon chefs also use cholla buds that bloom into cactus flowers in salsas and salads. They have a vague asparagus flavor  which makes them also good for certain  soups. The one tribe, Tohono O'odham, dry them and sell the buds in jars at the local San Xavier Co-op Farm. This devotion to creating livelihoods from heritage food is what got it noticed from Unesco.

Tuscon is a fascinating city full of food history and unique flavors. Unesco was right in choosing it as a World Heritage Site. It is fascinating from so many angles, both in its' story and in its' foods.