Stopping at Teec Nos Pos, for traditional Navajo food. The food truck was heavily patronized by native people (signifying, I hope, authenticity). It was totally yummy and satisfying !
Fry bread is a flat dough bread, fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard. Made with simple ingredients, frybread can be eaten alone or with various toppings such as honey, jam, powdered sugar, or hot beef. Frybread can also be made into tacos, like Indian tacos. It is a simple complement to meals.
According to Navajo tradition, frybread was created in 1864 using the flour, sugar, salt and lard that was given to them by the United States government when the Navajo, who were living in Arizona, were forced to make the 300-mile journey known as the “Long Walk” and relocate to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico onto land that could not easily support their traditional staples of vegetables and beans.
For many Native Americans, “frybread links generation with generation and also connects the present to the painful narrative of Native American history”. It is often served both at home and at gatherings. The way it is served varies from region to region and different tribes have different recipes. It can be found in its many ways at state fairs and pow-wows, but what is served to the paying public may be different from what is served in private homes and in the context of tribal family relations.
Our cold (12 degrees Farenheit last night) but lovely campsite on the Jicarilla Apache Nation, next to Stone Lake was scenic and inexpensive (free)!
David Willett 