FIRST PEOPLE: THE HISTORY OF CANADIAN FOOD BEGINS WITH THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES WHO HAD BEEN HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS BEFORE THE FIRST EUROPEANS ARRIVED. THE ANCESTORS OF OUR INDIAN NATIONS MIGRATED FROM ASIA NEAR THE END OF THE LAST GREAT ICE AGE, AT LEAST 12,000 YEARS AGO. CROSSING THE LAND BRIDGE THAT IS NOW THE BERING STRAIT, THEY GRADUALLY SPREAD OUT ALL OVER THE AMERICAS, EVOLVING INTO DISTINCT CULTURES BASED ON AVAILABLE FOOD SOURCES. MOST WERE NOMADIC HUNTER-GATHERERS LIVING ON LARGE AND SMALL GAME ANIMALS, FISH AND WILD PLANTS, OUR PRESENT DAY INUIT ARE DESCENDED FROM THE THULE CULTURES, WHALE-HUNTING SOCIETY WHICH SPREAD ACROSS THE ARCTIC ABOUT A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. BY THE TIME THE FIRST EUROPEANS ARRIVED IN THE 15TH CENTURY, THEY FOUND MANY DIFFERANT INDIGENOUS SOCIETIES WELL ADAPTED TO LOCAL CLIMATES AND FOOD SUPPLIES: THE MICMAS FISHERMEN ON THE EAST COUST: THE AGRICULTURAL IROQUOIS AND HURON NATIONS AROUND THE GREAT LAKES, GROWING CORN, BEANS AND PUMKINS: THE BISON HUNTERS OF THE GREAT PRAIRIE CONFEDERATIONS; THE CARIBOU-HUNTERS OF THE NORTH: AND COMPLEX WEST COAST CULTURES THRIVING IN THE A GENTLE CLIMATE WITH ABUNDANT SEAFOOD. NATIVE FOOD LIKE PEMMICAN, COURN AND DRIED SALMON SAVED THE EARLY EXPLORERS AND FUR TRADEERS FROM STARVATION, AND THE FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLERS OF EVERY REGION SURVIVED BY LEARNING TRADITIONAL INDIAN METHODS OF COOKING AND PRESERVATION. THE NATIVE CULTURES, THOUGH DISTINCTLY DIVERSE, HAD IN A SPIRIUALITY BONDED WITH NATURE. THEIR BELIEFS THAT ALL LIVING THINGS, PLANTS AND ANIMALS AS WELL AS HUMANS, ARE RELATED EQUALLY IN SPIRIT MEANT INTIMATE TIES WITH THE NATURAL WORLD NEVER DOMINATIING , TAKING ONLY WHAT WAS NEEDED FOR FOOD AND ALWAYS PUTTING SOMETHING BACK. ONLY RECENTLY HAS THE VALUE OF THE ANCIENT CULTURES, WITH THEIR RESPECT FOR THE LAND AND ENVIRONMENTS, BEGUN TO BE THE RECOGNIZED BY OTHER CANADIAN .
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 01:18:09 +0000