THE PLAINS INDIANS

PREPARING THE FOOD

  • The main meat of the Plains Indians was the bison (buffalo). The meat was prepared in different ways:

    • roasted on a spit on the campfire.
    • boiled in a skin bag
    • cut into thin slices and hung to dry.
    • made into pemmican
    • liver, kidneys, marrow and nose were eaten fresh

  • Sausages were made from strips of meat and fat seasoned with wild onions and herbs (sage)

  • Besides the bison, antelope, deer, elk and moose were hunted. Gophers, rabbits, prairie chickens and other small animals and birds were caught in snare traps.

  • Many kinds of berries were picked including chokecherries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and saskatoons. The berries were eaten fresh or dried. Berries were also used for dyes, jewelry and medicines. Food was stored in birchbark containers.

  • Plants that grew wild such as wild rice, bitter root, onions and prairie turnips were also picked. Turnips were eaten raw, boiled or roasted. Dried turnips and pounded into flour.

  • Dried sage was used for flavouring food and moss was used for tea.


bow drill


Campfires were started with a bow drill. The bow spun a stick in a hole. The spinning made the stick get hotter and hotter. Smoke would start to rise as the wood started to burn.

drying meat
DRIED/SMOKED MEAT
Meat was cut into strips and hung on racks ( or a tripod ) to dry in the hot sun. It was also dried over a smoky fire. Dried meat was called jerky.

boiling meatboiling meat
SOUP OR STEW
Meat was cooked in a sac instead of a cooking pot. The bag was actually the stomach of a bison. The sac was hung on sticks. Red-hot stones were scooped from the campfire and dropped into the sac. The water in the sac hissed and sizzled and boiled. This is how buffalo soup or stew was made. Chunks of meat were cooked with vegetables like the wild turnip.

PEMMICAN
Dried meat was pounded with a rock until it became powder. Then it was mixed with melted fat and berries. The meat was stored in a parfleche. Pemmican would last for months. (Deer, antelope, elk and moose meat were also used to make pemmican.)

BANNOCK
Grease (fat) was collected from bones and animal fat. It was used for frying bannock. Bannock was a type of bread that was cooked over the fire.





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J.Giannetta, June 2002 (updated April 2009)

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