Food: Balancing a Navajo Meal
Discussion Questions by Grade with Answers
Kindergarten: Discuss, what are some
traditional Navajo foods still eaten today? Mutton stew, corn, squash,
peaches, Navajo tea, piñon nuts, and beans. In the spring,
Navajos plant corn, squash, beans, and melons, and in fall, they
dry these foods for winter use. Navajos also plant fruit orchards.
• First Grade: Review, what
are some traditional Navajo foods still eaten today? Discuss, what are some
traditional Navajo foods from the past, but not commonly eaten today? Besides
the answers above, Navajos also ate these foods depending on seasonal growth
and availability: wild potatoes, wild onions, wild carrots, wild spinach,
berries, yucca fruit, locusts (grasshoppers), wild turkeys, horse meat,
venison, goat’s milk, and prairie dog.
• Second Grade: Review, what
are some traditional Navajo foods still eaten today? What are some traditional
Navajo foods from the past, but not commonly eaten today? Discuss, what are the
various foods prepared from a sheep? Besides the answers above, Navajos also
make blood sausage, and roast or cook the sheep’s head, intestines, ribs,
internal organs, and skin.
• Third Grade: Third Grade:
Review, what are some traditional Navajo foods still eaten today? What are some
traditional Navajo foods from the past, but not commonly eaten today? What are the
various foods prepared from a sheep? Discuss, what are foods made with corn? Besides
the answers above, Navajos also enjoy cornbread, mush, kneel-down bread, and
Navajo cake as baked by girls at their puberty ceremonies. Dried corn is ground
into cornmeal on a grinding stone. The cornmeal is then used in such dishes as
Navajo pancakes, cornbread, mush, and Navajo cake. Fresh corn is used in kneel-down
bread as well as it is also enjoyed roasted and steamed. Blue corn is used for
contrast with white or yellow corn. Cornmeal was also used as a sweetener before
sugar was available.
• Fourth Grade: Review, what
are some traditional Navajo foods still eaten today? What are some traditional
Navajo foods from the past, but not commonly eaten today? What are the various
foods prepared from a sheep? What are foods made with corn? Discuss, what were
the foods dried for winter storage? Years ago (before the late 20th
century) when refrigerators were not common, Navajos dried many foods for
storage during the winter months. Included were peaches, apricots, apples,
yucca fruit, prickly pear fruit, beef, venison, and mutton. Like refrigeration,
drying helps to prevent foods from spoiling.
Questions
|
