Pork is the most widely consumed meat globally, but it wasn’t always a dietary staple. Tracing back thousands of years reveals some fascinating intersections between pork and Native American cultures. Did Indigenous tribes eat pork before European contact? How did pork consumption evolve among Native Americans over time? Let’s find out!
Pork’s Pre-Contact History in the Americas
Archaeological evidence shows that pre-contact Native Americans hunted and consumed wild boar. Paleoindian sites from 13,000 years ago have found the remains of peccaries, which are mammals that look like pigs. Dogs were a good source of protein for people who lived in what is now the American Southwest and Mexico.
Around 5000 BCE, wild boars were domesticated in China and Europe, but not in the Americas. So most Native Americans would not have encountered or eaten domestic pigs prior to European colonization.
An exception may have been tribes living in the American Southeast. Free-ranging domestic pigs brought by Spanish settlers in the 1500s could have potentially bred with native wild boars introducing domestic swine genetics to Indigenous populations earlier than other regions.
Early Post-Contact Pork Consumption
The first major influx of pork into Native American diets came with the arrival of European colonists and livestock Here are some key events
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In 1539, Hernando de Soto brought 13 pigs ashore in Florida. Three years after he died, the herd had grown to 700, giving local tribes a lot of pork.
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In the early 1600s, pigs were distributed to tribes like the Creek, Cherokee, and Iroquois as European settlements expanded.
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Colonial New York had such issues with free-ranging pigs damaging native fields that colonists were required to ring pigs’ noses to limit destruction
So in colonial times, pork became increasingly available to Eastern tribes through trade, raids, intermarriage, and hunting of free-roaming pigs. The meat was a coveted source of protein and fat.
Native Americans Develop a Taste for Pork
As pork from livestock spread through North America, many tribes readily adopted the meat into their cuisines.
Native Americans recognized pork’s nutritional value and rich flavor. Hunting wild boar had long been practiced, so pork from livestock was a familiar food source.
In fact, Hernando de Soto recorded some of the worst attacks on his expedition were from tribes eager to steal his pigs! This illustrates how prized the pork was among Indigenous groups.
By the 1700s, pork was widely consumed by tribes across Eastern North America. It sustained Native American fighters during wars and protests as a versatile preserved meat.
So despite originating in Eurasia, pork found an enthusiastic audience in Native American culinary culture. Its value as a protein source overcame its status as a “colonizer” food.
Westward Expansion Increases Pork’s Presence
As American settlers pushed West in the 1800s, pork gained prominence across North America:
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Pigs traveled by wagon train with pioneers, providing meat through long journeys.
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Railroads enabled commercial pork distribution from major processing hubs like Cincinnati.
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Chicago and other Midwestern cities boomed as national pork suppliers due to ample feed grain production.
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Ranchers introduced pigs to replace cattle during dry spells since pigs forage on a variety of foods.
This Western pork boom further increased access among plains Indigenous groups like the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Crow. By the late 1800s, pork was ubiquitous across Native American territories.
Modern Native American Cuisine Features Pork
Today, pork enjoys a firm place in many Native American diets and cuisines:
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Traditional dishes like soups, smoked meats, and corn-pork combos are still popular.
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Contemporary Native American chefs incorporate pork in creative fusions like pork noodle bowls and pork burgers.
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Pork features prominently at powwows and other ceremonies as stew, ribs, sausage, and more.
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Groups like the Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation, and Choctaw Nation operate their own pork production operations.
While influenced by European introduction, pork has been thoroughly incorporated into the food culture of many tribes. The adoption and celebration of pork shows the adaptability of Indigenous foodways.
America’s Pork Industry Had Begun
Pig production spread throughout the new colonies. Hernando Cortez introduced hogs to New Mexico in 1600, and Sir Walter Raleigh brought sows to Jamestown Colony, now in Virginia, in 1607.
Semi-wild pigs caused so much damage to New York’s grain fields that colonists who owned pigs 14 inches or taller had to put a ring in their noses. A long, solid wall was built along the northern edge of the colony on Manhattan Island to keep pigs from roaming and to protect the colonists from Native Americans. This area is now known as Wall Street.
The pig population in the Pennsylvania colony numbered in the thousands by 1660. By the end of the 17th century, the average farmer had four or five pigs. He used the pork to make salt pork and bacon for his family and sold the extra pork as barreled pork. Following a practice that had become common in Pennsylvania, pigs were fed a diet of native American corn.
After the Revolutionary War, pioneers began heading west, taking their indispensable pigs with them. A wooden crate filled with young pigs often was hung from the axles of prairie schooners.
As western herds grew, so did the need for pork processing facilities. Packing plants began to spring up in major cities. Pigs were first commercially harvested in Cincinnati, which became known as Porkopolis. More pork was packed there than any other place in the mid- 1800s.
“Drovers” Herd Pigs to Market
Moving pigs to market in the 1850s was no small undertaking. “Drovers” herded their pigs along trails, which later developed into railroad routes. Between 40,000 and 70,000 pigs were driven from Ohio to eastern markets in any one year. Each driver, who worked for the drovers, was in charge of up to 100 pigs. The herds moved five to eight miles a day, going up to 700 miles in total.
The refrigerated railroad car transformed the meat industry when it was introduced shortly after the Civil War. It enabled packing plants to be centralized near points of production instead of near points of consumption. Large “terminal markets” with railroad access developed in major cities, such as Chicago, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Mo.; and Sioux City, Iowa. Large packing plants were located adjacent to these stockyards. Live pigs were shipped via railroad to the markets, and pork was shipped, again mainly by rail, to consumers nationwide.
Because of these changes in transportation, the pig industry moved to the upper Midwest, where there were plenty of feed grains. This is how the “Corn Belt” became known as the “Hog Belt.” “In fact, for many years, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana, and Missouri were the top six states for getting pork. Iowa is still No. 1.
The pork industry saw a lot of technological progress in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of these changes helped production grow a lot in states that aren’t usually known for raising pigs. The most notable growth occurred in North Carolina, which is now the second largest pork- producing state.
Even though North Carolina producers had to deal with more expensive feed, they were able to keep their prices low by using pigs that were genetically programmed to have better reproductive efficiency and lean muscle growth. This made them more cost-competitive. They also captured economies of size and developed pig-raising methods that controlled disease, and improved productive efficiency. Many producers in other areas have now adopted these same methods.
Today, pork is the most widely consumed meat in the world. In 2022, the United States exported more than 2. 5 million metric tons to other markets. Currently, the U. S produces 11% of the worlds pork.
You can find more information about today’s U. S. pork industry at the Pork Checkoff’s Web site at pork. org or call the Producer Service Center at (800) 456-7675.
Why billions of people won’t eat pork (or why we don’t know)
Do Native Americans still eat food?
The foods of the Native Americans are widely consumed and their culinary skills still enrich the diets of nearly all people of the world today. This article provides only a small sampling of the rich and highly varied Native American food culture that has been passed down to modern civilization.
Can one eat pork?
A cooked, medium pork cutlet or steak provides 239 calories, 34 grams protein, 10 grams fat, 4 grams saturated fat, 697 milligrams sodium, and 0 grams carbohydrate, if you eat only the lean part of the steak. Pork contains many of the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) found in beef and it is high in protein, but can be lower in fat than beef—depending on cut and preparation. Meat from any kind of mammal, including pork, can cause an allergic reaction (and some people who are allergic to mammalian meat also react to poultry).
What do Native Americans eat?
There’s no typical Native-American-associated dish, in the simplistic sense that we pair spaghetti with Italy, tamales with Mexico, and over-boiled beef with the Brits. Instead, each tribe—of which there are now 566 recognized in the United States—has its own distinct culinary tradition, driven by distinctive locally available resources.
Do Native Americans eat the same food as their ancestors?
Today, few if any of the descendants of the early Native American tribes eat diets that closely resemble those of their ancestors, although many indigenous foods are still eaten and Native American foods have been incorporated into the cuisines of almost the entire world.