Fry Bread: Simple, yet Complex

In the class that I'm writing this blog for, I had to do a cultural traditions presentation. I made a PowerPoint and did my research on a food that I've always enjoyed but had never really thought about before--fry bread. For those who've never had it, fry bread is a Native American food that is exactly what it sounds like, fried bread. Its contemporary version still has simple ingredients, some variation of flour, salt, baking powder, water, and shortening.

I learned a lot from researching fry bread, but there were two points that really made me think. This first is that fry bread is controversial to some. It's not a traditional food in the way that one would consider the products of hunting and gathering or early agriculture to be. Native Americans developed fry bread as a survival mechanism. After they were moved to reservations and had to live off of government rations because they didn't have their hunting and growing areas, they used the products given by the government to create a calorie dense food. Lard, flour, sugar, and water made fry bread, and since then this food has evolved into a source of pride, and really, is a very beloved food that tastes good. It's become a food that is sold at pow-wows, county fairs, rodeos, and the like.

It is also the only universal food among Native Americans, because it was the one thing that they all shared no matter what their traditional ways were, they were all forced into a dependent state that resulted in eating rations. In recent years, a woman named Suzan Shown Harjo of the Morning Star Institute made the point,"Just because it was a food that was forced on us, doesn't mean we have to keep eating it." Harjo believes that fry bread magnifies the poor diet and sedentary lifestyle of many Native Americans, exasperating health problems like diabetes with its 27 grams of fat and 700 calories per plate.

Although I understand Harjo's point, I don't think she will win many people over with her anti-fry bread campaign. For most people in my generation, and probably the 3 generations before me, it is the only "traditional" native food that we know. This brings me to my second point, that it is probably a waning tradition as well. I know that my siblings don't know how to make fry bread, and my mom rarely makes it. In a reflection on fry bread I had done before doing research I wrote:

"If I ever do have a meaningful conversation with my grandma, I’d like to ask her how to make Fry bread, but I think it might be one of those things that you have to learn how to do after years of helping and observation."

On frybreadlove.org, Annie Humphrey writes about how she learned how to make fry bread and sort of backed up my thoughts on how most people learn and pass it on,

"She didn't speak English to us and so I was instructed to follow gramma around the kitchen and watch her every move...from choosing the right bowl to mix up the dough to placing the finished bread into a bed of paper towels.”

So I didn't learn from my grandma (above), instead I learned the 21st century way, by researching on the internet. That's sort of a trend for me, I've learned how to cook from TV, the internet, and cookbooks. Fry bread is finicky--it's so easy to mess up, so I read a lot of suggestions before I tried it. I practiced on a Saturday before I made it for the class and I was pleased that it turned out well. It kind of freaked me out at first because I'd never fried anything before and putting dough in hot oil reminded me of how making fried chicken can scar your arms.(One of the tidbits I've picked up in reading about southern cooking.)

Anyway, we ate the fry bread with a breakfast of eggs, tomatoes, and sauteed spinach and then again ate it with a dinner of Southwestern Vegetable Soup (Bittman's recipe is one of the best vegetarian soups, in my opinion.) Fry bread also goes well with honey or "indian tacos."



If you're feeling adventurous and want to try some "native" cuisine, this is a pretty excellent recipe for newbies. Enjoy!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fry-Bread-I/Detail.aspx

Anniversary Weekend

I feel like this title could be longer, "Anniversary Weekend for a couple who have evolved from people who didn't cook to people whose relationship is based around cooking together." Or maybe not...

John and I had our third anniversary last weekend and celebrated true to form--we ate and drank some good food. We also both got each other cookbooks as gifts. (Go figure!) I got "500 Cupcakes" which has recipes like Eggplant Caviar Muffins and Rhubarb and Ginger Cupcakes along with some more conventional ones. I got John, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Bittman has never let us down with How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, so it should be good. He is a food journalist who I respect as much as any chef, you can check out his column in The New York Times and he's also in Spain: On the Road Again on PBS.org.

Saturday we tried a new downtown eatery- the Silk Road Bistro. The name is a clever reflection of the variety of food they offer, Indian, Mediterranean, and Pakistani. I had a samosa, naan, basmati rice, and some vegetable balls..that's the easiest way to describe them, they were like meatballs except they were made out of veggies, and they were excellent. They contained the best paneer I've ever had and it's worth going back just for the sauce. I'm not sure what was in it, but it was spicy and garlicky. This dish is called malai kofta on the menu, described as "mixed vegetable patties, cooked in a creamy gravy sauce." When I go back, I'd like to try their spicy chili naan and their paneer wrap.

Sunday we went back to the place where we had our first date, Trial's Pub. The beer was better than the food, but it was good beer so that's not a terrible thing. We had some Hoegaarden and Stella Artois and had a curry chips appetizer. I love these curry chips. I got the vegetable curry dinner because the Mediterranean plate isn't in season yet. John's dinner was better than mine, he got a shepherd's pie, which to me just seems like meaty gravy with mashed potatoes and cheese on top. I did a little research on shepherd's pie because I was curious about its origins. I figured it was just a peasant food that has retained popularity. That's pretty accurate, its origins are traced back to when potatoes became an affordable crop for the poor. Traditionally, the meat is leftovers that are turned into the base for the pie while the mashed potatoes become the crust.



Finally, we drank good wine all weekend. Saturday, we had some 7 Deadly Zins and Sunday we had Franciscan Cabernet. Good tip--you can get the 2005 Franciscan Cab at Target for $11.99-that's a steal for this caliber of wine. I'm going to get a couple of bottles and save them, it will be excellent through 2013. For dessert, John brought some cheesecake down from North Beach. Stella Pastry and Caffe on Columbus has the best cheesecake I've ever had. It's an event to eat this cheesecake. (It is a party in your mouth!) Saturday we split a piece of blueberry cheesecake and Sunday we had chocolate cheesecake with strawberries.
All in all, good eats and good company.