In 1620, British settlers arrived in Plymouth with supplies that were supposed to last them a year. After running dry of their stock, they expected to become farmers, hoping to cultivate a harvest that would lead them through the next harsh winter. They did not expect the instrumental support they would receive from the Indigenous population already living in the New England region.
“What happened that surprised them – and still surprises me when I think about it – is the helping hand that was extended to them, maybe just out of sheer diplomacy, but maybe just out of sheer humanity,” said Plymouth-based food historian Paula Marcoux. “Nobody had to come from among the Wampanoag Nation and show them how to plant corn. The corn – native corn – is completely different in the way it’s grown than any European crop, and if someone hadn’t shown them how to do it, they probably would have starved the next year.”
Despite its importance in the development of America’s culinary history, Indigenous cuisine is often overlooked, hidden or entirely unknown.
“There’s only so much documentation of our food; there’s only so much documentation of our culture,” said Penobscot Chef Joe Robbins. “So you almost have to be an archaeologist.”
Robbins, a James Beard Award-nominated chef who focuses on both the pre- and post-colonial contact cooking of the Wabanaki people, says there’s a distinct lack of knowledge of Indigenous food culture, which leads to the difficulty of uncovering its roots in America. In his work, Robbins hopes to align Indigenous foods with cuisines from France, Italy and Asian countries that are topping the Michelin list.
Like other Native and Indigenous chefs and food educators, he is also working to create more connections and acknowledgement of how Indigenous foods became New England Yankee cuisine of past and present.
Robbins said one clear example is baked beans, a relic of the Puritans’ weekly sabbath meal. Puritans would not allow themselves to work on weekends, so enslaved members of local native tribes were tasked with providing food for the colony.
“One of the easiest ways to feed a lot of people on a budget is by cooking in the ground, because we didn’t really have ovens,” Robbins said. “We were cooking multiple things in the ground, but beanhole beans was the one that came forward as a historical type thing because the church documented this. I believe there were probably many dishes that were done this way over time, but beanhole beans were definitely something that they learned from our people.”
Another hallmark of Native American cuisine is corn, the centerpiece of a variety of dishes. One of the dishes that persists today are johnnycakes, a starchy staple in many Indigenous communities.
Mohegan anthropologist, chef, teacher and food educator Rachel Beth Sayet, also known as Akitusu, said although many tribes create a version of the pancake-adjacent cornmeal and water patties, each group has its own interpretation of the dish.
“Depending on the tribe and the corn variety, the density may be different,” Sayet said. “For instance, amongst my tribe and the Narragansett tribe, who I’m also descended from, we share a corn variety – the Narragansett White Flint Corn. We really only make our johnnycakes with that particular corn variety, and there are hundreds of heirloom corn varieties to work with.”
While Indigenous food has not flourished to the same degree as other distinct cultural cuisines, it is having a resurgence in interest. Some Indigenous people are cautiously optimistic about the increase in visibility, but others are concerned about possible appropriation.
Sayet says perhaps because the rise in modern Indigenous cuisine is happening more gradually and thoughtfully, there’s a possibility to preserve its origins and history more than other global cuisines.
“I think we feel as if we can control it a little bit better as Indigenous people and how is really the question: how to control it, how to keep it in mostly Native hands but also allow other people to partner as necessary,” Sayet said.
Guests
- Paula Marcoux, Plymouth-based food historian, author of “Cooking with Fire,” archaeologist, cook, bread-oven builder, food history educator
- Chef Joseph “Joe” Robbins, 2024 James Beard Award semifinalist focusing on both the pre- and post-colonial-contact cooking of the Wabanaki people
- Rachel Beth Sayet, anthropologist, chef, teacher and an Indigenous food educator from the Mohegan Nation, instructor of Native Studies at UMass Boston
A special recipe provided by Rachel Beth Sayet:
Mohegan Succotash
(Printed with permissions from Melissa Fawcett from her book “The Lasting of the Mohegans”)
Roasting is the preferred method of cooking therefore, [Harold] thinks the traditional Indian dish of succotash may not have become popular until after the introduction of iron pots by the colonists. He believes that the clay pot notwithstanding long hours of boiling necessary to prepare succotash according to the present recipe. He does not discount the possibility, however, that the Mohegan may have prepared succotash and earlier date in a manner requiring considerably less boiling.
Native Corn – 4 dozen ears
Shell Beans (Dwarf Horticultural) – 4 lbs (soaked overnight)
Salt Pork (optional)- 1 lb
Salt & Pepper to taste
Boil the salt pork. Boil beans in the separate pot. When the salt pork is nearly cooked, add the beans. (Be sure to skim the pot with the salt pork and beans).
Before the corn is cooked, the corn kernels are split down the middle, then the top half of each kernel is removed, and finally the whole kernel is cut off. The corn is then cooked and added in when the mixture of beans and salt pork is nearly done. Then the cobs are steamed for 10 minutes and scraped into the pot with the rest of the cooked corn. The cob water also goes in.
Simmer very low for at least one hour. Stir regularly. Salt and pepper to taste.
