Has Anyone Ever Eaten Pemmican? It Sounds Utterly Disgusting!

[mso489]

I am impressed in various accounts of life in the tribal nations how off-handedly they could often hunt food for travel, hunting, or war expeditions, so in season, and in appropriate terrain, fresh meat was it. I think the tribes were widely omnivorous but I don't think travel always accommodated gathering in quantity, and I think they needed high protein for all the physical activity. One of the uses of tobacco was to placate appetite when food didn't come readily to hand, or was limited. I'm no scholar, and one of my sources is James Willard Schultz, who lived with and married into the Blackfoot, but he was a young-adult fictional author more than a scholar per se, but he described a number of all meat meals with various species as dishes. Also, he described regular recreational, rather than ceremonial, tobacco pipe smoking.

 

[buster]

I’ve never had the real pemmican. I would give it a try. We occasionally get sweet jerky from the Chinese market. I prefer the spicy Vietnamese version but the Chinese strawberry pork jerky is surprisingly good.
http://soojerky.com/products/pork-jerky/fruit/

 

[warren]

Let's not forget those tribes who were farming and, lived in well organized towns, even cities, long before the European showed up on North and South American shores. There is even evidence of rudimentary "crop rotation" as a way of improving worn out land. If not that, they would let areas go fallow for a period of time so the soil could rejuvenate. This is particularly true for North American tribes in the Eastern part of North America. Coastal tribes lived off the sea which included harvested from the sea. Not all tribes were nomadic but, indigenous peoples understood the difference between healthy and unhealthy living. Some only moved when forced from tribal lands by stronger tribes. Others followed the food. Still others settled in permanent localities becoming hunter/farmers.
Some tribes, in particular those relying on the buffalo for a myriad of necessities, learned the efficiency and safety of running huge herds of the beasts over cliffs so they could harvest a few for meat, clothing and tools.
Meat was certainly a major, in some areas the major, part of any diet. But, even on the move, women and children were constantly gathering vegetative materials for subsistence and medicinal use.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

To me carrots sound a lot more disgusting. I’ve tried to like them my whole life, candied, orange sauce, gingered, fried, boiled, red ones, purple ones, yellow.. blech. They all taste like underrippened bitters. And, grapefruit... grapefruit sucks. I’d eat a dirty handful of old meat and berries any day, before I’d eat a carrot... or drink one of those nasty IPAs that tastes like grapefruit... blech.

 

[brian64]

Let's not forget those tribes who were farming and, lived in well organized towns, even cities, long before the European showed up on North and South American shores.

Indeed.

The Development of Prehistoric Irrigation in the Salt River Valley
Sometime between A.D. 600 and 700, Hohokam irrigation engineers designed the first large canals, capable of transporting large quantities of water onto the upper, or second, terrace of the Salt River. By the early Colonial period (A.D. 700 to 900), large integrated canal systems were established on both the north and south sides of the river. These canals were often monumental in their size and scope. Many of the canals were over 12 miles in length, with the largest recorded Hohokam canal extending for 20 miles (32 km) (See Photograph 1). Two large prehistoric canals are still preserved in Park of the Four Waters, located in the southern portion of the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archeological Park. The canals measure 26 and 18 meters in width and approximately 6.1 meters in depth. Canal System 2, the large system that heads on the Salt River at Pueblo Grande, was probably capable of irrigating over 10,000 acres of land.
http://www.waterhistory.org/histories/hohokam2/

HOHOKAM CANAL SYSTEM
https://www.asce.org/project/hohokam-canal-system/

 

[mawnansmiff]

"...or drink one of those nasty IPAs that tastes like grapefruit... blech."
You heathen Michael, that beautiful citrus flavour in most ales comes from carefully selected varieties of hops.
But then there is Elvis Juice (~ 7.5%) brewed by the Brewdog Brewery in Scotland, now that does contain grapefruit and is positively sublime.
BTW, sliced carrots partially boiled then set in a pan with butter and chopped parsley are to die for....so sweet.....yum!
Regards,
Jay.

 

[mso489]

I was a weird kid in that I seemed to find nearly all vegetables flavorful in a good way. I was real skinny, and ate everything I could lay my hands on, and we weren't short of groceries. Carrots need a little salt and butter, but otherwise I find them pretty good. Carrot cake is pretty good. I like brussels sprouts, broccoli, the whole produce dept. Don't like organ meats, but that may be texture more than flavor per se. Liverwurst used to taste good, but not so much after some toxicological considerations.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yes, after spending my life acting like there was nothing wrong with carrots, and absolutely no other vegetables were bad, I discovered just recently that there is a gene that makes carrots taste bitter, similar to cilantro (some people taste it as soapy). So, I now flagrantly show my disregard for carrots. IPAs, well, all beers taste disgusting to me, but hoppy IPAs even more so. Give me a Soda any day, or better yet an iced tea with a sprig of mint.

 

[Sloopjohnbee]

Whats that South African Jerky called again? Thabo eats it, looks interesting.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Wouldn't you know it: Amazon has listings of pemmican. Doubt it's much like what was used a century or more ago, but .... You pays your money and you takes yer choice.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Beef jerky is something I have never experienced due to it not being generally available in these parts but I assume it resembles the sort of pretty solid chew-stick one gives to the dog....if only in shape?
I should imagine any form of dried meat would by its nature be somewhat hard on the teeth. I have read that the voyageurs would take a chunk of pemmican, lob it into a pot, add a little water then boil it afore consumption, rather like a high vitamin gruel.
I'm thinking here that as folk's teeth might not as been perfect back in the day, that was the only way it could be eaten no?
I really must try and source some beef jerky just to see how it looks and tastes.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[timelord]

The South African 'jerky' is Biltong. Easy to get here in Sydney as there are South Africans producing it here and selling it in the local markets They do a soft one which is pretty much like Jerky but otherwise Biltong comes in long strips and involves more chewing and gives your jaw a good work out! Lovely stuff - especially the Chilli Biltong.

 

[Sloopjohnbee]

Thanks, yes biltong timelord, gotta try it.

 

[darwin]

Mawnansmiff "back in the day" native peoples' teeth were by and large perfectly healthy. Well they were until cheap sugar and white flour showed up and brutally sabotaged the dentition, and overall health, of many reservation tribes.

 

[warren]

back in the day" native peoples' teeth were by and large perfectly healthy

I'd sure like to see a citation for the above statement. Forensic archeology certain doesn't support such a sweeping statement. Dental hygiene was pretty much unknown. Food debris festered and caused many dental problems, mostly resolved by removing the offending "ivory.". They were no more immune from dental problems than any other people "back in the day".

 

[josephcross]

Id eat it, no problem.

 

[aldecaker]

"...I did grow up eating Rapa Scrapple..."
Mmm, scrapple. Out of all the snoot-based foods, that one's my favorite!

 

[cigrmaster]

Growing up my favorite dish that my grandmother on my fathers side made was called Giblets. It consisted of chicken necks, chicken stomachs and small meat balls in a brown gravy served over white rice. The sound at the table while people were sucking off the meat of the necks was interesting.

 

[dukdalf]

Ah, gizzards. A true delicacy.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"....scrapple...."
What on earth is scrapple? It doesn't sound too appetizing I can say that.
I can recall the 'less affluent' folks of my hometown of Sheffield used to rely on a 'dish' known as 'chicklings and bag'! What that was I never ventured into finding out but it just didn't sound right to me :roll:
"Ah, gizzards. A true delicacy."
You sound like someone who might eat dried caribou noses or pickled beaver tails 8O
Regards,
Jay.