JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
In this season of food, family and traditions, let's hear about fry bread - flour, salt, baking powder, deep fried in lard. It is a big tradition in many Native communities, but its history is steeped in tragedy. Kimimila Beetso is a junior high school student at Horizon Honors Secondary School in Arizona. She made some fry bread and a podcast with her grandmother. Beetso submitted the latter to NPR's Student Podcast Challenge, and today we're bringing you a little taste.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "MAKING FRYBREAD - A HISTORY")
KIMIMILA BEETSO: Can you first introduce yourself?
EVELYN ROANHORSE: My name is Evelyn Roanhorse, and I'm 80 years old. I'm full-blooded Navajo.
KIMIMILA: How has fry bread been a part of your life as far as events, different occasions and celebrations?
ROANHORSE: I love fry bread. I always have to have fry bread when I see, you know, a stand out and about. I think I've seen it everywhere, you know, all kinds of celebration. There's all different kinds of sizes fry bread - small, you know, big.
KIMIMILA: Like its name suggests, it is a thick fried bread with a puffy texture.
ROANHORSE: The fry bread has to float in it, so you've got to put quite a bit in there.
KIMIMILA: OK, so...
How do you say fry bread in Navajo, and what does it mean?
ROANHORSE: (Speaking Navajo). It means bread that rises. So, you know, (laughter) so it's called (speaking Navajo) in Navajo.
KIMIMILA: (Speaking Navajo).
ROANHORSE: Yeah, it means it kind of goes up, like, in oil.
KIMIMILA: While it does hold this cultural significance, it also has complicated origins. The origins of fry bread can be traced back to the 1860s when Southwest tribes, including the Navajo people, or Dine, were forced out of their homelands by the U.S. government to walk hundreds of miles to the Bosque Redondo internment camp in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Starvation, as the location was not suitable for farming, was common as the Dine were deprived of the food they had traditionally grown and from proper nutrition. Instead, the government provided simple commodities such as canned foods, flour, lard, salt, baking powder and sugar. While still facing terrible conditions, the Dine used these rations to create fry bread.
ROANHORSE: There was really nothing else, you know, that was provided to them since they lost, you know, their sheep, you know, that - they left that behind and that was - they needed it, you know, in order to survive. It was a survival thing for them at Fort Sumner.
KIMIMILA: In 1868, a treaty between Navajo leaders and U.S. officials allowed for the Dine to finally leave the camp and return to their homelands. While the dark period of the internment camp was over, the practice of making fry bread remained and spread among other Indigenous tribes, again serving as a cheap way to sustain Native communities in the face of colonial oppression.
(SOUNDBITE OF MIXING DOUGH)
KIMIMILA: Fry bread does come with some criticism, though, due to its historical origins and its lack of nutritional value as it is high in calories and fat. This is connected to the widespread health issues Native communities deal with today, such as chronic diseases like diabetes. While fry bread can definitely contribute to this, the overlying factor can be attributed to Native reservations' lack of resources and access to healthy food and good health care. Overall, while fry bread has a complicated history in relationship with Native tribes, it is undeniably an important symbol within Native culture and has brought tribes together.
Final question is, what is your favorite way to enjoy fry bread or your favorite food to eat with it?
ROANHORSE: Oh, soup. With soup, yes, or with roast mutton made into a sandwich. Those are my favorite two ways.
KIMIMILA: Within families, it creates a nostalgic experience and a way for generations to connect and share knowledge.
SUMMERS: That was high school junior Kimimila Beetso.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOUR TET'S "LUSH") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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