Johnson's focus is on teaching native food traditions to O'odham tribal members. He adds that traditional foods can also help with high rates of diabetes and other food-related illnesses among tribal members. "With traditional foods, we use our own language to identify and refer to them." Johnson says. "We call that our new year."ĭesert foods also keep alive associated legends, songs and even language. "Instead of going by the calendar year in January, we look at the environment and the rains that bring down the water for the plants and make everything green again," he says. The saguaro harvest, for example, is also accompanied by a rain ceremony that signifies the O'odham New Year. Johnson considers food a gateway to other O'odham traditions. But then you also get those who are really determined to learn." "And then we're cooking (the saguaro fruit) over a fire, and a lot of them, you get those people who lose interest. "With the saguaro harvest, we're picking in triple-degree weather, and when people understand that we're going to be out there at 110 degrees, they're like, 'What!'" he says. And for those newly interested, he knows not all will stick it out.įood is ongoing in the desert - if not always easy to harvest. Johnson grew up with grandparents who regularly took him to pick saguaro fruit in the summers and wild spinach each winter, but he knows not all tribal members share those experiences or his interest. The desert's menu is vast - fruit from saguaro, prickly pear and barrel cacti pods from mesquite and palo verde trees cholla buds greens that sprout after rains and more.
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