Orlando Enrique Fiol wrote:
> wrote:
>> Today was the first time since I left New Mexico that I've seen Indian
>> fry bread on a restaurant menu. Today I had an Indian taco that I
>> didn't have to make myself. Wahoooo!!!!
>>
> Every dish in this world is not put here to satisfy your convenience and
> curiosity. If you actually ask Native Americans about fry bread, you'll
> find that it never was a part of their historical diet until white
> settlers and the federal government forced them on to reservations where
> they could not hunt or farm as they once did. There, they were given the
> most essential foodstuffs, from which fry bread was born. Now, does that
> sound like something worth celebrating? It's not particularly nutritious
> or healthy for native people to consume in large quantities, yet you
> find it cute.
No one said it's cute. She said it was novel to find it on a menu
outside of a particular locality.
Relax, hoss. When I first got to this part of the country (Utah), I took
a good look at what they called Navajo tacos and about died laughing.
They call the same sort of fried dough "scones" here, too. Go to any
Sconecutter and that's what's there, covered in whatever "scone"
accompaniment you heart desires. Are they scones? Hell no! But as in the
case of the Navajo taco, it's not about ancient origins and it's not
about verisimilitude. It's about having grown up with them and knowing
them as they are.
Where I grew up, the local delicacies were fried balogna and onion on
white bread, Buffalo wings and beef on 'weck. It was difficult at that
time to find these items away from the Niagara Frontier so when we did
find them in other places, it was a big slap of sentimentality come to
call. Healthful eating? No. Worth celebrating? Oh, yeah.
To my taste, Navajo tacos are inedible. So are the local "scones." But
I'm sure they'd keep body and soul together for a while longer in a
pinch. And those who grew up with them think they're great. So be it.