Bannock (Indigenous American food)
indigenous North American bread
Bannock, skaan (or scone), Indian bread, alatiq, or frybread is a flatbread produced by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas now found throughout North America, including Inuit in Canada and Alaska, other Alaska Natives, the First Nations of the rest of Canada, the Native Americans in the United States, and the Métis.
Origins
A food made from maize, roots and tree sap may have been produced by Indigenous North Americans prior to contact with outsiders.
Native American tribes who ate camas include the Nez Perce, Cree, Coast Salish, and Blackfoot tribes, among many others. Camas bulbs, out of which bannocks can be made, contributed to the survival of members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–06).
Some sources claim that bannock was unknown in North America until the 1860s when it was created by the Navajo who were incarcerated at Fort Sumner.
According to other sources, fur traders introduced bannock to tribes in North America, and that a bread, and the name 'bannock', were originally introduced from Scotland.
Terminology
Other languages do offer hints of European influence, however, for example Navajo: bááh dah díníilghaazhh "bread that bubbles" (i.e. in fat), where "bááh" is a borrowing from Spanish: pan for flour and yeast bread, as opposed to the older Navajo: łeesʼáán which refers to maize bread cooked in hot ashes Likewise, Alutiiq alatiq comes from the Russian: ола́дьи, romanized: oladyi "pancakes, fritters."
Preparation
Bannock is generally prepared with white or whole-wheat flour, baking powder, sugar, lard and water or milk, which are combined and kneaded (possibly with spices, dried fruits or other flavouring agents added) then fried in rendered fat, vegetable oil, or shortening, baked in an oven or cooked on a stick.
Political significance
Bannock is the most universal of dishes in the Indigenous Canadian repertoire, and is used equally in the Arctic, Plains, subarctic, and Pacific cultural areas. However, the modern recipes for bannock are clearly influenced by the government rations that were distributed on Indian reserves in the late 19th century when access to country foods (plants and animals native to the region) were restricted by the arrival of non-Indigenous settlers.
The public source identifies “Bannock (Indigenous American food)” as indigenous North American bread. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bannock, Indigenous and American.
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