Top Ten Best First Nations Foods - Part 1

In my opinion, one of the greatest impacts that America’s First Nations have had on the world was through their crop breeding. Unfortunately, most people don’t know much about food history and sadly the contributions of First Nations to world cuisine are often taken for granted. But First Nations crop plants have provided us with many of the most widely eaten and nutritious foods in existence (as well as some of the tastiest). So here is part one of my list of the top ten best foods from the Americas (in order of my own personal preference-it is my blog after all!).

8. Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)

Hailed as a super food by vegans and vegetarians for its complete protein levels, this seed has increased in popularity partly because it is a healthy, whole grain. Quinoa has been eaten by South Americans for about 7,000 years. However, Quinoa production plummeted for a time as Spanish conquistadors in South America forbade the Andean peoples from cultivating it due to its association with traditional religious ceremonies. Fortunately, some of the Andeans continued to grow quinoa because it tolerates dry, somewhat saline soils at high altitudes where other crops cannot thrive. Quinoa is everywhere now, stuffed into vegetables, pilafs, grain salads, and even breakfast cereal.

6. Peppers (Capsicum spp.)

Peppers have been giving humans a spicy thrill for over 5,000 years. Whether you like them sweet or hot, all peppers (also called capsicums or chilis) were first cultivated in central and South America. Peppers became most popular in warmer climates such as the Mediterranean and southeast Asia where they benefit from the long growing season. Rich in vitamin A and C peppers are enjoyed raw, powdered as a spice, or cooked in sauces.

Stay tuned for the final five foods coming in May!

Scientists have spent many decades arguing with each other about lichens. It’s a plant! No, it’s a fungus! No, it’s an alga. It’s a fungus parasitizing an alga. No, it’s an alga parasitizing a fungus! Nobody’s parasitizing anybody! They’re living in harmony like a bunch of hippies in a commune! I prefer to think of a lichen as an organism with an identity crisis. No wait, that’s not very flattering. Perhaps they are more like legless organism support groups. Or maybe they’re akin to exclusive nightclubs with a “no animals allowed” sign on the door.

Image: Fungi were still considered to be primitive plants when the Museum first opened.

In reality, lichens cannot be classified as anything because they are composite organisms containing species from (probably) four different kingdoms. The scientific name of the lichen is based on the name for the fungal host (Kingdom Fungi) but lichens also contains photosynthetic organisms called “photobionts”. The photobiont is usually a green alga (Kingdom Plantae) but sometimes a golden or brown alga (Kingdom Chromista) or a cyanobacteria (Kingdom Bacteria). Some lichens, like the dog lichens (Peltigera spp.), have both green algae and cyanobacteria in them (it’s the party spot of the lichen world cause the cyanobacteria mix a mean nitrogen smoothie!). Some biologists even consider lichens as “self-contained mini-ecosystems”.

You’d think with our high powered microscopes, fancy computers, and DNA analysis that we would have this classification thing all worked out. But the more things change the more they stay the same, and scientists are still arguing about how we should classify the organisms on our planet. Whatever we decide call them, there’s one thing for certain-the lichens are completely indifferent to our puzzlement over their true nature.