MORE THAN JUST A MEAL PART 4: INDIGENOUS FOODWAYS of NEW JERSEY

Indigenous Foodways of the Lenni-Lenape

This map shows the broad boundaries Lenapehoking but does not
account for the many Lenape polities, tribes, and matriarchies.
Image courtesy of Wiki Images.

Long before Europeans arrived in the mid-Atlantic region, Lenapehoking - the Land of the Lenape - consisted of a large swath of land that includes present day western Connecticut, southeastern New York (and Manhattan), all of New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and northern Delaware. The Lenni-Lenape prepared their food from hunted game, carefully tended crops, and gathered wild plants. Deer, elk, black bear, turkeys, ducks, and geese were frequently hunted game and fishing was an important core food source, with fish and crustaceans contributing to the bulk of the Lenni-Lenape diet. The Lenni-Lenape had a keen understanding of sustainability and selectively planned fishing, hunting, and planting practices to prevent resource depletion. 

Lenni-Lenape gardening favored the cultivation of corn, beans, and squash. Their innovative farming technique is famously called “The Three Sisters” in which corn, winter squash, and climbing beans were planted together to be self-fertilizing and pest resistant. These crops were also nutritionally balanced, providing a diet of all the necessary amino acids. Sunflowers, pumpkins, herbs, and tobacco plants were also grown. Wild food plants like roots, berries, fruits, mushrooms, and nuts were also collected. Gathered foods were often eaten when ripe, dried for long-term storage, or used as ingredients in a variety of food preparations. The acorn was particularly versatile and was used to make cooking oil, porridge, and bread. To preserve their farming resources, Lenape also practiced crop rotation and the utilized the slash-and-burn method to renew over-used or infertile soil with a new layer of nutrient rich ash.

Illustration of the Three Sisters planting method. 
Image courtesy of gvseedsavers.com

In the 17th and 18th centuries, indigenous Americans were essential to the outcome of European colonists who learned from them how to survive in the climate of the Middle Colonies and New England. Across different locations and at different times, groups of European colonizers and Native Americans achieved working relationships, but these were usually contingent on the individual circumstances of the communities involved. Settlers often eschewed Indigenous methods, preferring the food and farming from home, but times of hardship made learning them a necessity. The story of Tisquantum (abbreviated incorrectly to "Squanto" by white settlers) and his relationship with the Plymouth colonists is emblematic of this. Tisquantum, who had been enslaved by a white trader early in his life, taught them how to fertilize soil and cultivate crops in the tradition of the Wampanoag and Ninnimissinouk peoples during a period of starvation. Early colonists in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region also took advantage of deserted settlements, whose soil yielded corn, squash, and beans, of which the original indigenous owners died during a massive disease outbreak brought by European traders.

A Lenape Fry-Bread Recipe
Courtesy of the Delaware Tribe 
Official Site of the Delaware Tribe
 Foods Eaten by the Lenape Indians

Europeans often misunderstood aspects of indigenous foodways, particularly labor and land-ownership practices, that led to discrimination, tension, and outright conflict. Nevertheless, Native American planting methods and ingredients would go on to sustain European settlements and become core parts of the colonial diet. The incorporation of corn is a particularly important contribution of indigenous foodways. Corn established as a far more reliable crop than those brought with the settlers, as well as North American bean plants, pumpkins, and squashes. The settlers quickly implemented the "Three Sisters" planting method, having learned by observation and instruction, which was very efficient for subsistence farming and gardening. Indigenous cooking methods included baking, frying, deep frying, boiling, and roasting; and European settlers that encountered these remarked upon the diversity and wholesome quality of their meals. Ingredients and dishes historically attributed to many indigenous groups in the colonial era became assimilated into the burgeoning American cuisine, appearing in cookbooks like Amelia Simmons' American Cookery (and many more).

By the end of the 18th century, however, most Lenni-Lenape had been driven away from their rightful lands by European expansion and fraudulent treaties (see: the Walking Treaty), and remaining populations were further impacted by brutal programs of systematic forced removal implemented in the 19th century. Despite removal and oppression, the Lenape people continue to inhabit New Jersey and many other regions of North America. As such, Lenape foodways continue to be practiced, preserved, and studied by modern indigenous practitioners and scholars. Innovations based on both traditional and modern indigenous methods continue to shape our contemporary culinary world.

Learn More about the Lenni-Lenape: 

- The Official Website of the Delaware Tribe of Indians: Official Site of the Delaware Tribe of Indians
- Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape People Tribal Website: Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape (nanticoke-lenape.info)

- Nanticoke and Lenape Confederation Learning Center and Museum: Nanticoke and Lenape Confederation (nanticokelenapemuseum.org)

- Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania: Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania (lenape-nation.org)

- Ramapo Munsee Lenape Network [and Heritage Gallery]: Ramapo Munsee Lenape Network

- The Lenape Center: The Lenape Center – The Lenape Center

Resources:
- “Foods Eaten by the Lenape Indians,” The Official Website of the Delaware Tribe of Indians (2013)
- “Lenni Lenape Food in the Colonial Era,” Historic Fair Hill (n.d.)

- Walter Licht, Mark Frazier Lloyd, J.M. Duffin, and Mary D. McConaghy, “The Original People and Their Land: The Lenape, Pre-History to the 18th Century,” West Philadelphia Collaborative History (UPenn) (n.d.)

- Sandra L. Oliver, Food in Colonial and Federal America (2005)
- Sunmin Park, Nobuko Hongu, James W. Daily III, "Native American Foods: History, Culture, and Influence on Modern Diets," Journal of Ethnic Foods 3.3 (2016)

- Emily Russell, "Indian-Set Fires in the Forests of the Northeastern Unites States," Ecology 64.1 (1983)

- Taylor Smith, "Lenni-Lenape: The Original Residents of New Jersey," Princeton Magazine (n.d.)