'It’s about instilling pride': Native American center to showcase tribal cuisine Monday
Traditional Native American dishes like frybread, as well as newer innovations like the “Indian taco,” are all part of the indigenous cuisine that Ty Smith takes pride in sharing with non-native communities.
“People ask, ‘What is Native American food?’… You have recipes of old (that) you try not to alter at all. But then there's others that are more modern,” Smith, who co-directs the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio, told The Dispatch recently.
For Indigenous People’s Day on Monday, the group is holding a native food event on its grounds at 67 E Innis Ave., on Columbus’ South Side, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. NAICCO will be selling street food dishes from its food truck while Coffee Mess, a Hilliard-based roaster, will host a pop-up.
“We showcase a variety of intertribal dishes,” Smith said. “It’s about instilling pride, and we’re off to make good relations.”
NAICCO was founded in 1975 by Selma Sully-Walker, a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, to foster a sense of home for urban indigenous people, according to the center’s website.
Many native people left their reservations and settled in urban areas as federal policies cut support to tribes and encouraged assimilation during the early and mid-20th century. Many of the native people who came to Columbus during that era were from the Lakota and Dakota nations, according to Smith.
Smith is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Oregon and came to Columbus in the 1990s with his wife Masami, who co-directs the center with him.
At a recent event the center hosted for a Japan-America summit in Columbus, Smith gave a short lecture on Native American symbols and showcased the center’s collection of native art.
“We’ve seen in excess of over 100 different tribes coming through our doors over the years,” he said.
Smith and Masami served their guests a meal of deer soup, huckleberry buckle and fry bread.
Smith explained that fry bread was originally a survival food developed from government rations amid tribal displacement, but in a modern twist, it is used as the base of “Indian tacos.” Buffalo burgers are another signature of NAICCO’s.
Smith said the group’s food business has taken off since launching during the early COVID-19 pandemic. They now have between 12 and 15 indigenous people on the team, which usually works over the weekends. In addition to the food truck, they offer catering.
“It creates opportunities for our people to work, to gain job skills, and work in a very unique environment … allow(ing) native people to work alongside other native people,” Smith said. “I think people take a lot of pride in what our team does. … They're a part of something bigger. It’s about our community and our future going forward.”
Peter Gill covers immigration, new American communities and religion for The Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America at: bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.
pgill@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Native American center to showcase cuisine on Indigenous People's Day
