User:Georgialanderyou/Navajo Nation

Article body:
The Navajo Nation relied heavily on the natural world in order to obtain food. The tribe dates back to the 1500s in which their principal food was maize, also known as corn. The summer corn harvest was so important to the Navajo Nation that they held religious ceremonies to pray for a successful crop. It was and continues to be central in the arts, culture, health and lifestyle of many American Indians. Maize is a highly versatile food and was eaten at almost every meal by The Navajo tribe. Large quantities were eaten fresh during the summer. It was eaten raw from the stalk, roasted in the coals of a fire or baked into soups and breads. Excess corn was dried on the stalk or picked and hung to dry in the sun. Dried corn was ground into cornmeal and added to soups or baked into tortillas and tamales. Some tribes stored enough dried corn to feed the community through two crop-less years.

The Navajo Nation occupied the southwestern part of the United States, therefore consumed foods that were native to the land. These foods consisted of mostly wild plants including yucca, pumpkins, wild onions, wild potatoes, prickly pear, grapes, raspberries, and rose. In addition, parties of women gathered an assortment of nuts each year including acorns, pinyon nuts, and walnuts. One of the most notable cultural foods in the Navajo tribe is fry-bread. The Navajo were forced by the United States government to walk from their land in Arizona to Bosque Redondo in New Mexico in the mid-1800s. This walk was over 300 miles and left many Navajo members dead. While residing in Bosque Redondo, the government gave the Navajo flour, salt, water, lard, sugar, powdered milk, and baking powder to use in cooking. The Navajo people created fry-bread out of those ingredients and it has since been a staple food within the Navajo culture. It symbolizes perseverance and strength.

References:
http://www.indians.org/articles/navajo-indians.html

https://aihd.ku.edu/foods/corn.html

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5047689M/American_Indian_food_and_lore.

https://navajocodetalkers.org/what-did-the-navajo-indians-eat/

http://blog.nativepartnership.org/national-homemade-bread-day-and-the-history-of-frybread/