Indigenous cuisine of the Americas

The many indigenous tribes and nations of the Americas (see Indigenous cultures of North America, Indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica and Indigenous cultures of South America) each had somewhat different foods, and many of their dishes are available today.

In most cases there has been considerable influence in both directions between indigenous cultures and colonial cultures. This article therefore overlaps considerably with articles on the other cuisines of the region.

Understand
The Neolithic revolution &mdash; where agriculture began and people who had previously been hunter-gatherers settled near their crops and soon developed irrigation and cities &mdash; seems to have occurred independently in at least half a dozen places around the world, including two in the Americas.

One was among the Indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica who developed agriculture based on the "three sisters" &mdash; corn (maize), beans and squash &mdash; starting before 7000 BCE. Later their crops and techniques spread to other indigenous groups across North America. Mesoamerica also made other important contributions to world cuisine, notably chocolate and chili peppers.

The other was among the Incas, with a different mix of crops. Their great contributions to world cuisine were the potato and sweet potato.

Foods
While some native groups have been farming for a thousand years or more, and many others have settled on reservations or in towns in recent centuries, hunting and fishing are still common and much native cooking involves game meats or foods foraged in the wild. Beware that these animals can be quite dangerous; an elk, moose or buffalo can total a small car by charging it, and in North America more humans are killed by moose than by bears and wolves combined. Sports hunters and fishermen also take some of these types of game, and some natives run resorts for them or work as guides.

Other traditional native foods include:

Drugs
A number of common drugs originated in the Americas, though their use in indigenous societies was often rather different from how they came to be used elsewhere.
 * Tobacco use goes back many thousands of years, and was mainly ceremonial among native groups.
 * Coca &mdash; taken as tea or by chewing the leaves &mdash; is a stimulant used by many Andean tribes, not entirely safe but not remarkably dangerous either, and legal in several countries. Cocaine, the concentrated white powder which can be extracted from coca, is quite dangerous and is illegal in most countries.
 * Two psychedelics (effects similar to LSD) have been used in indigenous societies, mainly by shamans and mainly in Mexico and the US Southwest. The peyote cactus (mescaline) has been made illegal in many countries, but US law has an exemption for the Native American Church. The psilocybin mushroom is also illegal in many places, but "shrooms" are available in most North American cities and in parts of Mexico for the tourist trade.

Destinations
Some of these foods are available in restaurants or stores on reserves or in other native communities; see Indigenous cultures of North America, Indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica and Indigenous cultures of South America for information on some of the communities. There are also native-run restaurants or stores in various cities.