was dried and stored for future use, being
added to other dishes and also pounded into a
course flour to make a type of camp bread.
Wild fruits, nuts, and berries were harvested
by Apache women and children. Acorns were
harvested, then ground or pounded into a
mush that was allowed to dry, to be stored for
later use. Even today acorn soup is considered
to be a delicacy by many groups of Apache.
Piñon nuts were a staple with many Apache;
this small but plentiful nut was prepared and
used in numerous ways. Prickly pear cactus
tuna or fruit are sweet and were readily harvest-
ed when they ripened. Juniper berries, wild
plums and walnuts were also used by the
Apache. The Spanish dagger produced a large
pod, nicknamed by the gringos “prairie
bananas” because of its banana-like flavor
when roasted or steamed. The mesquite bean
was pounded and ground into a course flour by
some groups. Yet other natives discarded the
beans and ground the pod hulls for flour.
While harvest was the normal way of acquir-
ing these foods, theft was not unheard of when
the opportunity arose. Many a pack rat has
rudely awakened to the sounds of forced entry,
as his nest was being raided by Apaches.
Somehow Apache women figured out that the
nuts a pack rat stored for winter use were the
finest nuts available. A pack rat only carried the
best ones home to his nest. The pack rat's habits
saved the women a lot of tedious work of hav-
ing to sort through piles of piñon nuts and dis-
carding the empty or spoiled ones.
In the old days before the intensive harass-
ment by white settlers during the 'Apache wars,'
Apache people did a limited amount of farm-
ing. Their main crops were corn, beans,
squash, and pumpkins. Some Apache even
used forms of flood irrigation, building tempo-
rary dams to divert water flow from streams to
water their crops. Normally after the crops
were planted the group would move on in
order to secure other food sources, making sure
they returned to their fields in time for the har-
vesting of the crops. Other Apache people liv-
ing in country that would not support farming
traded with or raided Pueblo tribes to acquire
these food items.
Meat was an important part of the Apache
diet. The Apache were known to have hunted
deer, elk, antelope, desert big horn sheep,
javelina and buffalo. They used the bow and
lance when hunting large game animals.
Buffalo for instance were often taken down by
mounted Apaches using lances, though the
lance was never thrown. Instead the force of the
running horse was used to help drive the lance
into the vitals. When hunting smaller game,
bows, slings, throwing sticks, traps, snares and
dead falls were used. Apache ate turkey, quail
and dove. Small game like cottontail and birds
were often harvested with bare hands, hand-
thrown rocks and sticks, and even rock throw-
ing slings were used by young boys trying to
add to the family's menu. While different
Apache groups had food taboos, one animal
just wasn't safe when Apaches were in the
neighborhood; that was the lowly pack rat.
They were hunted by young boys and cooked
whole with the hair on over the open flame of a
camp fire. When the rat was finished cooking
and the hair was burned off, the crispy skin was
then peeled back, exposing the tender meat for
the hungry young hunter to sink his teeth into.
There are a lot of myths about Apache eat-
ing habits. There were food taboos, but that
didn't mean that all Apaches honored the same
taboos. For instance, one bunch would only eat
mule deer, refusing to eat white tail deer. But
their neighbors would eat both the white tail
and mule deer. Another myth is that Apache
people did not eat bear meat. But tribal eye wit-
ness accounts state that the Warm Spring
Apaches did in fact eat bear meat, and it tasted
good.
Yet another myth is that the horse was con-
sidered to be a sacred animal by all Native
Americans. The horse was considered sacred
by many tribes, but the Apache wasn't one of
those peoples. According to Spanish records,
the Apache has been documented eating horse
meat at their feasts as far back as the mid-
1700s. Horse meat was consumed year-round
by Apaches, not just during times of famine. An
Apache could eat a horse and never blink an
eye. To quote the character Al Sebers in the
movie Geronimo: an American Legend, “Hell, a
horse is just mobile food to an Apache.” Mule
meat was considered by the Apache to be pret-
ty darn good meat. But both the Apache and
the Comanche were known to have ridden way
out of their way, if they got wind that there was
burro meat to be had. Burro meat was consid-
ered by both groups to be some of the finest
meat available.
Desert living can be pretty tough, and it
takes tough people to survive during the long
lean times that a desert offers. One drought in
the Big Bend area lasted 15 years. The drought
that drove the Anazasi culture out of the desert
southwest lasted 38 years. In times like these,
you either get tough or get out. And you can't
be too picky about what you eat. During really
hard times such as escaping captivity and being
pursued in times of war, single Apaches have
become stranded, alone in unfamiliar country,
trying to work their way back home through
hundreds of miles of strange lands, while avoid-
ing detection by enemy forces. Resting during
the day and traveling at night makes it hard to
find food or to hunt game. More than one
Apache has had to resort to eating the carcass-
es of dead animals and birds found along the
trail. Unable to build a fire to cook with, the
rotting meat of these carcasses had to be eaten
raw! Yep, who wants to be an Indian now?
Cenizo
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