I was introduced to Fry Bread a year or so ago on tribal land in Puyallup, WA. Which got me to thinking about how fry bread came about… which lead to me finding out that it’s one of the only things that almost all the tribes across the states have in common. Not because they passed it around over a long period of time, either. Because the U.S. Gov. put the tribes on reservations and killed anyone who tried to leave.

Fry bread came about because the US gov. would drop off flour, lard, yeast, powdered milk, white sugar, and salt and expect the tribes to feed themselves with these ingredients rather than what they were used to eating. Except nobody told them how to use any of it… and fry bread is the result.

Finding out the history of fry bread has made me more aware of the history and current happenings with tribes in the US. I still love it, and will eat it whenever I get the chance at powwows and potlatches. But I’m not sure I’ll ever think about treaties the same way again.