Blackfeet Author Advocates Healthy Native Lifestyles

Montana tribal author and artist,
Marietta King
(Photo by Ron Selden)

King, like many others, believes that modern-day foods, especially those that are highly processed, are plugging up and filling out Indian people. But she also realizes that it’s often impractical to give up all the goodies. That’s why her "Food is Medicine" book includes an extensive catalog of recipes that combine the old with the new. The publication also reveals ways to prepare a wide variety of common and uncommon foods with less harmful fats and sweeteners.

A "Native Foods" section, for example, has directions for things like Saskatoon berry soup and baked tripe, the muscular lining of an animal’s stomach. Boiled tongue, either buffalo or beef, is also on the menu, as well as blue camas, made from a type of Western bulb.

These and other natural plant and animal foods are juxtaposed with more typical dishes, such as ribs, hamburger and chicken, mainstays on most American tables. The main difference is that the entries are aimed at resembling a pre-contact diet, especially for Northern Plains tribes. In many recipes, for instance, wild game can be substituted for beef or domesticated bird.

A primary premise forwarded by King is that because Native bodies generally haven’t evolved far from that of the traditional hunter-gatherer, the old food "pyramid" touted for years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture needs to be inverted.

King, who has constructed an alternative "pyramid lodge" of desired foods, said proteins are the broad-based foundation of a healthy diet, followed by fresh vegetables and berries, unsaturated fat found in certain oils, seeds and nuts, herbs, and dairy products. Grains and sweets are at the top of the lodge, meaning they should be consumed the least and in the smallest quantities.

"Nobody wants to give up fry bread," she said. "But there are ways to prepare it so it’s not so harmful to us."

King maintains that because good nutrition is so closely tied to health, wholesome and properly prepared food is a key component to happiness and overall well-being. She explains that in the pyramid lodge, the Creator secures the four poles symbolizing the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental staples of a healthy life.

"The four poles may also symbolize the stages of life: birth, youth, adult and old age; and to the four seasons, spring, summer, fall and winter, or the four races, white, yellow, black and red," she wrote. "The Creator is the common thread that holds everything together ..."