Indian Recipes

Come view some authentic American Indian recipes here at TheWildWest.org.

American Indian looked to the earth for their foods and ate things that may not be considered common today.  For example, acorns were a major North American Indian Food. 

California’s American Indians were mostly hunters and gatherers. Throughout California, there was a steady supply of deer, fish, rabbits, foul, vegetables and fruits in the form of native plants and seaweed.  And they made good use of all of it.  Still, acorns are believed to have been a main food source for many native California Indians.  Acorns were everywhere from north to south, were easy to gather and stored quite well as long as storage containers and places were squirrel resistant.

Some clans buried baskets of acorn nuts until they were needed.  White acorns, it was also believed, were the most preferred because they were sweet and could be eaten without leaching, a processing method traditionally used to remove the acidic tannins of the acorns.  In any case, read through the Indian recipes you find here to discover some unique hearty meals.  In some cases, though, you may note that ingredients had to be exchanged to meet the times.   Otherwise, many are as authentic as when originally conceived.  Enjoy our Native American food recipes.