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The Native American tribe known as the Seminoles of Florida consumed a varied and interesting traditional diet with soaked corn gruel and wild animal meat as primary staples.
The Seminoles were the dominant Native American force in Florida during the colonization of the area by European settlers during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Each year, Fort Foster at Hillsborough River State Park hosts a living history exhibit where schoolchildren can come and learn about the Second Seminole War, also called the Florida War, which occurred from 1835 -1842 between the United States and the Seminoles.
My child’s class took a field trip to Fort Foster to experience the living museum firsthand, and I was excited to tag along as one of the chaperones.
Seminoles Ate Meat
Every facet of life during this period for both the American soldier and Seminole Indians was covered in detail as one walked around the Fort as well as the tribal settlement located across the pristine waters of the Hillsborough River via a wooden bridge.
While all aspects of the living museum proved interesting, I was particularly fascinated by the traditional foods of Native Americans living in Florida at that time as demonstrated by a lady dressed in Seminole attire who thoroughly explained how the tribe nourished themselves on a daily basis.
In the picture above, you can see an animal roasting over a fire.
The kids and chaperones had a fun time trying to guess what the animal was, but we all were wrong even though the claws are a dead giveaway that the animal is a raccoon!
Raccoons supposedly taste like, you guessed it, chicken!
Not boneless, skinless chicken breasts, mind you, but the dark meat, which is mineral-rich and full of very nourishing fat.
Soaked Corn. A Staple of the Seminole Tribe
The dish that really caught my eye, however, was the soaked corn gruel that served as the mainstay of the Seminole tribe diet.
The corn was pounded into a coarse, cracked flour, soaked in weak lye water obtained from wood ash, and then cooked over low to medium heat for 3-4 hours into a soup called sofkey.
The lye increased the nutrient availability of the corn, most notably Vitamin B3 or niacin. Since sofkey was the mainstay of the Seminole diet, the release of the niacin from the corn via soaking was absolutely critical to health.
Pellagra, a vitamin B3 (niacin) deficiency disease is a devastating illness that can result in death following progressively worsening symptoms of diarrhea, dermatitis, and dementia. Soaking corn in limewater prior to cooking alleviated the risk of this illness.
Sofkey is sour to the taste indicating that the corn was fermented as well as soaked further improving digestibility and nutrient absorption for the Seminoles.
The Seminole Tribe in Florida was never completely defeated by the United States with several hundred individuals hiding out in the Everglades indefinitely eluding attempts to round them up and ship them off to an Oklahoma reservation.
The Seminole tribe living in Florida today is quite proud of the fact that they were never officially conquered which played a role in the recognition of the tribe’s sovereign rights by the federal government in 1957.
No doubt, the Seminole tribe’s wise and careful preparation of their grain-based foods proved a deciding and critical factor in their ability to evade and resist resettlement by the United States government for over a hundred years all the while remaining healthy and strong.
If you live in the West Central Florida area, you can still visit the living history museum at Fort Foster in Pasco County.
Does anyone have any information on what species of grains were consumed by Native Americans here in Florida? I see and expect to see maize, but “grain” can mean a lot of things.
Did the Native Americans eat other grains?
If I went for a hike in Florida, what edible grains might I find?
I’ve read a lot of good comments on this post.
Here’s my two cents, echoing a lot of other folks:
I eat a loose version of Paleo/Primal, corresponding most closely to Paul Jaminet’s Perfect Health Diet. I have Sarah Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions and Weston Price’s book, and consider that school as fellow travellers.
My take-away from the post, and other reading on the subject, is that traditional methods of preparing grains are fairly onerous. So the Paleo/Primal shortcut of just skipping grains entirely is completely valid, and quite a reasonable approach.
I enjoy this blog, but I think sometimes it plays up the differences between Primal/Paleo and Weston Price inspired diets, like grains, too much. They are much more similar than different.
I find the Paleo/Primal view that preparing grains is onerous silly. It is easy to prepare grains and grains are an important part of the diet and cannot be replaced with other foods.
Any women who eats traditionally and has breasfed KNOWS that soaked cereal grains cause the milk supply to go through the roof. A sweet potato, baked potato or other type of carb DOES NOT do the same thing.
Excluding an entire food group is not wise unless a particular health condition is warranted. In my view, the majority of paleo/primal eaters will resume eating grains at some point realizing that excluding them completely from the diet was not a smart move unless for a short period of time to heal the gut or solve an autoimmune problem (such as GAPS diet).
I don’t see how this follows from the article. The Seminoles take the grain, pound it, mash it, soak it and cook it over a slow fire… and that’s NOT tedious?
I’m a modern American. When I cook lentils I soak them twice, over at least a day and a half, when I could just cook up some fresh meat and veggies… and that’s NOT inconvenient?
Doable, sure. Not even difficult. But certainly not convenient.
You do break with the Primal/Paleo people over whether grains are necessary or not. It seems dubious from any evolutionary point of view… if wheat domestication is 9,000 years old, as Wikipedia suggests, then how did we survive without this “essential” food? Or consider Asian diets, entirely lacking in wheat and corn until a hundred years ago.
If your point is that prepared properly you CAN consume these foods, sure, I’ll buy that. Necessary, no way.
You don’t have to do that anymore with modern technology 🙂 You probably marinate chicken or steak, right? Soaking grains is comparable to this simple task.
For healthy people, properly prepared grains are a necessary part of the diet. Grains are necessary to achieve optimal health and development in children as discovered by Dr. Price who found that the cereal grain eating tribes who combined this food with animal foods were stronger and better developed physically than the primarily carnivorous and the vegetarian tribes.
I found this information by accident not long ago and decided it was worth putting “out there” for others to see. Quite a lot of history here:
and here:
Part Amistad, part Braveheart, part Spartacus: youtube.com/watch?v=5E0j8xgxjTY (This is a very good overview from a Professor)
I had no idea they traveled from FL to OK and then down into Mexico to settle, because slavery was illegal in Mexico.
I’m interested in lots of historical things and this article on Seminole’s really piqued my interest – especially when within the first few comments here someone took you to task for the fact that Seminole’s were something different than what was presented in your article!
I am a type 2 diabetic, and all grains, properly soaked and prepared or not, shoot my blood sugar up very high very quickly, higher and faster and longer than anything with sugar. It is very hard to get my blood sugar down after grains, and eating grains causes intense carb cravings for days. It doesn’t matter how long it has been since the last time I had grains…every time I think it might be ok, since it has been soo long since having any, it happens….blood sugar shoots up over 200, stays high for hours, and I have intense cravings for every carb I see for DAYS after. I can eat the occasional (maybe once every couple months) fruit or chocolate or scoop of ice cream and they don’t cause all the problems grains do. No thanks. I am not missing anything by cutting grains.
All well and good. The point I was trying to make was that it isn’t WHAT you said as much as HOW you said it. I respect that you feel strongly about your beliefs and your blog reflects that. But, I think that when trying to educate people to make their lives better, it doesn’t do your cause any good to be condescending when they don’t completely agree with your viewpoint or initially understand it. Rather than ridicule them for it, just continue to teach in a non-judgmental way and I think more people might try to learn from your viewpoint instead of being put on the defensive and walking away. I, for one, don’t feel SUPERIOR because I choose not to eat grains and that’s not the impression I’ve ever gotten from the paleo community. I can’t say the same for your blog posts on the subject though. It seems, whether intentional or not, that there is a feeling of superiority because you DO eat grains.
I like your blog and I read it regularly. I was just disappointed to feel that my lifestyle was being ridiculed when I’ve worked so hard to get to this point. I guess I tend to look at it that if this was a PERFECT world, then yes, we’d all eat perfectly. It’s not a perfect world though and so ANY changes we can make for improved health are better than doing nothing at all. I guess in a nutshell, my viewpoint is that “I’d rather have the real food lifestyle I have now, with no grains, than eating ANYTHING like I did a year ago”. Put those 2 options side by side and my current lifestyle wins hands down every time. So, even though I don’t eat grains, I believe that I’m still on a much better path than ever before.
I do hope your overall message gets through to people and encourages them to eat better for their health and their children’s health. I’ve learned a lot from your blog and believe that I’ll continue to learn from it but, for me, it’s easier to be open to new ideas when you don’t feel that someone is being judgmental and critical, and that they’re truly just trying to educate.
I didn’t mean to ridicule you Becky. I apologize if my choice of words conveyed that message.
The Paleo diet advocates are quite adamant that eating grains is harmful to all. Strange that Dr. Price documented healing people of dental caries, rheumatoid arthritis, hyperactivity by giving a diet of cod liver oil, high vitamin butter, bone broth, and freshly ground wheat bread. Could it be that so many suffer from intolerance to grain because they lack the beneficial bacteria that help digest the gluten and gliadin?
I think you are right on target, Sarah, in your suspicion of antibiotics as being a likely culprit. My guess is that the ubiquitous anti-bacterial soaps are no help either. And if the above article is correct that the bacteria genus Rothia breaks down gluten and is in saliva, then we most definitely should avoid anti-bacterial mouthwashes and toothpastes.
I’m ok with people choosing to eat grains, and glad to see the word get spread about the best ways to prepare them.
But making blanket judgments about people who choose to eat grain free is irresponsible at best. I’m really tired of all the judgement flying around that basically comes down to: if grains make you feel terrible, you’re doing something wrong.
We know all about properly preparing grains. We’ve been working on healing our guts and restoring the balance of flora through the GAPS diet. And we have seen tremendous improvements in our health. But accidental cross-contamination of my son, my own gluten challenge, and the reactions we had to other grains and pseudo-grains have made it abundantly clear that grains are not a good idea for us, certainly at this time, maybe forever.
Why should we challenge that? Why do all this work to get healthy, then derail it over time by eating the very foods that have contributed so hugely to making us sick in the first place? I’d need to see some pretty strong benefits to be convinced it’s worth the risk. I don’t think that’s a “silly” or misinformed perspective.
I decided to challenge myself to think up good reasons to eat grains again. Some are more serious than others.
Hint: The Apocalypse figures heavily.
Joy
It is really sad to see all this acrimony between folks who should be natural allies. I think we all agree that we do not eat SAD.
Some of the traditional peoples studied by Dr Weston A Price, ate mostly animal foods , sometimes a few seasonal fruits and vegetables, and never ate grains, like the Native Americans of the far Canadian north, the Inuit, and the Masai. Others ate animal foods, fruits and vegetables, and grains, like the Swiss, the Nuers of the Sudan, and the Kikuyu who lived next to the Masai. Dr Price wrote that the peoples who also ate grains were stronger and had more endurance. But even the animal food only peoples he studied were free of tooth decay and chronic disease, and were so much healthier than people on modern diets.
Both approaches can work, and both are light years ahead of SAD. I respectfully ask that both sides be tolerant of each other. Our real enemies are not each other, but the food industry and an oppressive government that is trying to take all our food freedom away, and end real food for corporate profit. If we are left with only factory crap to eat, this controversy will be totally meaningless.
Peace, friends.
So true. And this is really what Dr. Price found on his travels. There was no “optimum” way of eating. There were all kinds of variations and all the people he found were super healthy. So why should we judge someone who chooses to eat grains vs. someone who does not?
When I meet immigrants or people from foreign countries, I always grill them with questions. What did they eat growing up? Did they have cavities? Did they wear braces? Did they have their wisdom teeth removed? Did they ever get sick?
I have met a few people from India who had absolutely perfect teeth and bone structure. They were vegetarians. They subsisted on mostly grains, beans and produce. They did not eat meat at all — except maybe very occasionally chicken or fish. They did eat lots and lots of dairy and eggs. And they cooked absolutely everything in grass-fed ghee.
Why would we denigrate these people when they obviously have extremely healthy traditional eating habits? And they do eat grains.
To each his own. Let’s respect each other however we choose to eat. And recognize that whole grains, properly prepared, are extremely healthy in a balanced diet. Same goes for a diet with no grains if it is balanced. The key is balance. And looking to our ancestors for their wisdom.
Hugs to you, Stanley! I really hope to see you at the Weston A. Price Foundation conference in the fall. It is in your ‘hood!
I disagree with you here, Ann Marie, Dr. Price did identify an optimal way of eating based on those who were the strongest and most physically excellent and they were the traditional groups who did not eat at either extreme … not almost vegetarian like the Bantu nor almost carnivore like the Masi.
The BEST traditional diet for Dr. Price was the mixed diet of the Dinkas which was not too extreme in either direction:
Dr. Price’s close study of these African groups (Bantu, Masai, Dinkas) convinced him that the best Traditional Diet — one that encourages optimal physical development in children — consisted of a balance of properly prepared whole grains along with animal foods (especially fish), and not tending toward extremes in either direction.
If anyone needs a reason to eat grains, this is it. It will encourage the optimal physical development in your children. I’m not talking the heavy grain diet of most Americans, I’m talking about a balance such as what the Dinkas (and the Seminoles!) ate.
It all comes back to doing what feels best for you. Misinformation abounds on the ‘net and people should know that by now. You still hafta do your own research about foods you question. But the bottom line remains the same – eat what feels good and satisfies your body in terms of health. I get sick of being told I’m “doing it all wrong” because I eat an egg, or a piece of toast, or a bowl of oatmeal, or a T-bone steak, or real butter. People can criticize if they want to, but I’ll continue to eat what works for me. I love grain and have no intention of giving it up anytime soon. I also love potatoes and have no intention of giving them up anytime soon either. I don’t eat these items at every meal, so I just tell people to lay off.
Also, I think it’s important to have perspective on all this. Whether or not you think humans were “designed” to eat grains simply depends on how far back you want to go. Some prefer to go full-on paleolithic, but others think neolithic is fine. Obviously I lean towards to former, but both are probably fine if done right — you can eat grains, if you do it properly, and be perfectly healthy. And you can not eat grains, if you do it properly, and be perfectly healthy.
I don’t think we should create divisions amongst ourselves. When we have defeated “My Plate”, low fat, the SAD, and Conventional “Wisdom”, then we can squabble amongst ourselves over the details. Until then, I am going to stand up for real food in all its’ forms!
The problem, as I see it, is that we are being fed SOOOO many contradictory pieces of information, that it’s almost impossible to sort through it all to figure out who is “right” and who is “wrong”.
Of course paleo/primal is going to work for you if the only grains you’ve ever experienced haven’t been prepared properly! A lot of people (in fact, most people in my experience) have NO IDEA how to prepare grains to make them properly digestible. It’s only been in the past couple of years that I’ve become aware of this myself! (And I read a lot about eating/nutrition, and have explored a LOT of books detailing the way we were “meant” to eat… and for me that started off with an exploration of raw vegan, which made perfect sense when I first learned about it!!).
The point is, so many people are on different stages of the journey. I’d say that a majority of people are still following Government mandated ideas for nutrition, and really they’re the ones I tend to lose patience with (so much more so than those who are at least exploring other avenues, whether or not they’re on the right track). Nevertheless, I’m not going to tell someout outright that they’re silly for believing in what the Government tells us is right… although it is frustrating when your kinds have a health assignment at school which entails them eating the proper “food groups” in the right proportion every day for 7 days in order to get full marks on their assignment *sigh*. Qualified dieticians and nutritionists are being taught this way as well… so those who, with the best intentions, go and visit the “professionals” are also being taught ways to eat that just aren’t ideal.
Hmm so I guess what I’m saying is to me if someone thinks paleo/primal is best, or even if they think raw vegan is best, I’ll at least give them kudos for at least looking outside the box in their exploration of true health and proper eating, rather than just believing “what they’re told” by those who are the supposed experts!!
If people ask me about the way I eat, I’m happy to regale them with my newfound knowledge of traditional cooking, and the benefits of consuming butter rather than margarine etc. etc. And yet just recently I was reading a “Health” magazine that had an article on margarine vs butter, and honestly… it’s just so frustrating when people are being told how much HEALTHIER margarine is… and these are the people who are really interested in improving their health!!
Sorry for my rambling here :).
Tell me about it! It wasn’t so long ago I was swallowing their conventional wisdom, hook, line and sinker, too! Now it just makes me fume whenever I read a “Health” article in a magazine. How can our whole society be so deluded? Whether we are spreading it on a peice of sprouted sourdough or some coconut flour bread, how can we not choose natural, grassfed butter over whatever rancid industrial “food” product is in margarine??? If my food needs to be bleached and deodorized to make it palatable…I don’t want to eat it!!
Unfortunately most people have not taken the time to find all of this out. They are hearing how good it is for them and that is it. They do not realize that it is rancid, bleached and deoderized.
This is to Cheeseslave, above.
Ppl dont eat a bowl of rice or oats, they eat bread and/or pasta. Every meal. Every day. Every person in the family. Thats a whole lotta “inconvenience”. So much, its an impossibility for most American families. Eating glutenfree crap is not the answer but assuming families can keep up with proper grain prep is not either, let alone actually making their family’s vast majority of bread/rolls/pasta/crackers/cereals/pancakes/waffles/tortillas, etc.
I wish ppl ate porridges! Much, much easier (ppl still wouldnt prep them tho). Add eggs and butter to them, highly nutritious IF YOUR GUT IS GOOD. Most ppl’s are NOT. Most ppl have not heard of GAPS, let alone have the fortitude and MONEY to do it. If families COULD heal their guts and WOULD eat porridges, grains COULD, maybe, be a good part of their diet. None of this is happening.
“Eat greens, not grains” is just a far more likely scenario to increase health in our societal climate. Theres nothing in grains not easily found in nongrain foods. Grains are just SO CHEAP compared to more nutrient dense foods. There’s the rub.