GREEN & SUSTAINABLE

Spanning the watersheds surrounding the Great Lakes in the midwestern United States and southern Canada, Wild Rice Nation has strong extant traditions of ricing, fishing, and hunting. Although farming occurs at many sites within the region, orchard produc­tion, wild foraging, and meat procurement are its most distinctive traditions. The rituals associated with wild rice persist among most of the Anishnabe, Chippewa or Ojibwa, Cree, and Menominee peoples of the region, although cheap California-grown rice still threatens the economic well-being of authentic ricers.

Immigrant cultures, including the French, Scots, English, Germans, Belgians, Norwegians, and Swedes, have also had a profound impact on the region’s land use and culinary history. In the seventeenth century, the Métis culture unique to the region evolved among the descendants of marriages between indigenous peoples—woodland Cree, Ojibwa, Saulteaux, and Menominee—and Europeans—French Canadians, Scots, and English.

Their foodways have remained rela­tively stable, although a number of fish stocks have declined due to introduced invasive species. At least 32 traditional foods are now at risk in Wild Rice Nation.

– excerpted from Renewing America’s Food Traditions, edited by Gary Nabhan, with the permission of Chelsea Green Publishing (www.chelseagreen.com)

Disappearing Foods | Recipes | Tips | Related Links | Full List of Disappearing Foods | Back to Map

Disappearing Foods

• Governor Wood Sweet Cherry
• Hane's Blackberry
• Huron Spring Bread Wheat
• Lyman's Large Summer Apples
• McFarlin Cranberry
• Oldmixon Free Peach
• Spanish White Sweet Potato
• Wisconsin Cheese Squash
• See Full List

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Find EatingWell recipes for:

• Apples
• Berries
• Cherries
• Cranberries
• Peaches
• Sweet Potatoes
• Whole grains
• Winter Squash and Pumpkin

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Tips to preserve heritage and heirloom foods:

• Become a seed saver through the Seed Saver Exchange (seedsavers.org).
• Purchase heirloom produce and heritage livestock breeds (American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, albc.usa.org).
• If you think a food is endangered, nominate it to the Slow Ark of Taste, slowfoodusa.org.
• Support community agriculture, farmers' markets and local food groups.
• Attend events that celebrate local foods.

Read more about Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT).

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Related Links

America’s Best Farmers’ Markets
Native Nutrition: A movement to preserve heritage foods

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Disappearing Foods (Full List)

American Eels of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River

Amish Musk Melon

Amsden Peach

Baby Rice Popcorn

Bear Island Chippewa Dent Corn

Beltsville Small White Turkeys

Boone County White Dent Corn

Chicago Black Fig

Ernest Strubbe's Dents Corn

Governor Wood Sweet Cherry

Hand-harvested Wild Rice (Manoomin)

Hane's Blackberry

Hardy Chicago Fig

Howling Mob Sweet Corn

Huron Spring Bread Wheat

Jap Squash

Java Chickens

Jefferson Plum

Kishwaukee Grape

Lyman's Large Summer Apples

McFarlin Cranberry

Mesabi Sour Cherry

Mesquakie Dent Corn

Northwestern Minnesota Moose

Nothstine Yellow Dent Corn

Ohio Blue Claredge Corn

Oldmixon Clearstone Peach

Oldmixon Free Peach

Posey County Blackberry

Shiawasee Beauty Apples

Silver King Corn

Spanish White Sweet Potato

Succulent Hawthorn

Suelter Grape

Tall Golden Self-blanching Celery & Celeriac

Wild Rice (Naturally Grown)

Wisconsin Black Popcorn

Wisconsin Cheese Squash

Wismer's Dessert Apples

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