Abstract

It is commonly thought in the archaeological community that Native diet prior to contact was inadequate, especially during lean times (i.e. winter). The purpose of this paper is to examine the nutritional quality of a pre contact diet using a combination of ethnohistoric, ethnoarchaeological and chemical research. Upon contacting a Southern Alberta Blood camp in late winter 1841, Rundle was served a meal of berry soup, dried prairie turnips, buffalo tongue, berry pemmican, dried berries, and buffalo fat. As part of this research, the recipes for the dishes served at this meal were obtained from a local member of the Tsuu tíina Nation (who still practices traditional cooking) as well as from some historic sources. Each of the ingredients represented in the dishes were then analyzed for nutritional content using Kuhnlein and Turner (1991) and my own analysis. These nutritional values were, in turn, compared to modern Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) for the average North American. The results indicate that the typical Native meal, even during lean times, is every bit as healthy if not more so, than that recommended by the RDA.