Chapter Two: Before and After Contact

CHAPTER TWO

Before and After Contact

The shift from the hunting and gathering to more sedentary life in the New World

Shadi Ali, Michael Behan

INTRODUCTION

Since its birth, America has often been referred to as the “melting-pot” of the world. Indeed, the United States that we see today is a melting pot of different ethnicities, cultures and religions from all over the world, and the city of New York is a rather unique example of this. The use of the term “melting-pot” to describe America, and especially New York City, is particularly adequate because when it comes to food, and the allusion can be taken in a literal context. With people from all over the world moving into New York City, and blending their various food traditions and customs with those of the previous inhabitants, this city has been, for centuries, an actual melting pot of nutrition from all around the world.

The first true inhabitants in the area now occupied by New York City were a group of Native Americans known as the Lenape. Now, when one considers the Indians of the United States, certain names and images come to mind: the Sioux Indians traversing the Central United States on horse, living in tee-pees and also the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest, surviving the desert heat in their adobe structures. It is safe to say that the extent of our knowledge about the Native Americans who lived in the New York region is limited to the anecdotal claim that “the island Manhattes from the Indians for the value of 60 guilders,” (Grumet 2009, p. 11). It is tempting to clump this group of people with the other Native Americans of the Northeast such as the Iroquois or the Algonquin. However, due to the rather unique ecology of the region surrounding New York City and the culture of the Lenape, a distinction must be made between these Woodland Indians and their northern neighbors. For all these native peoples, however, food was an item of vast importance and took precedence before all else. The environment around them largely determined the dietary culture of each group.

Just as with the Native Americans, food was also a key issue for the European settlers arriving in the 17th century, the “native New Yorkers.” Once the explorers decided where to build their homes, shelter was no longer a problem. Furthermore, as the first outsiders to settle in New York City and with fur trading as their main source of income, clothing was also not a problem. Food, however, was not something that could be shipped from their home countries on a daily basis. Once the colonists had run out of their stock of food they had brought with them to the New World, it became imperative that they adapt and learn how to acquire resources from the land around them.

As the first outside settlers in the New World, the Europeans brought with them their recipes, cooking methods and even supplies with them; what these outsiders brought with them depended primarily upon which part of the world they had come from. During this period, explorers from not just the Netherlands but also France, Spain and England were claiming territory in the New World causing an influx of different cultures in different parts of America. Thus, the Dutch settling in New York ate differently from the Spaniards claiming St. Augustine, the English colonists in Jamestown, and also the French who had migrated to Canada. Although the difference in the diet of each colonial group is fascinating to compare, our main focus will be how the Dutch learned to obtain food in the New World by implementing methods brought from their homeland with newly adapted methods they needed to learn in order to survive.

There are many archaeological findings that support that changes occurred in food production and production technology used by the Lenape Indians, perhaps introduced by the arriving Dutch settlers in the 17th century. Despite significant evidence that in later years the Lenape had established some form of agriculture, some argue that this was merely the result of European contact. Prior to this contact, the natives made extensive use of the only resources already present around them. Similarly, the Dutch who arrived sustained themselves with a combination of learned techniques from the Motherland, and the resources introduced to them in the New World, by the Lenape. The exchange of resources and technology between the Europeans and the people of the New World had significant effects on their respective forms of nourishment, though ultimately leading to a modified form of the European diet; specifically, the exchange between the Dutch and the Lenape was crucial in shaping the food culture of New York City.

Figure 2.1. Lenape men preparing soil for cultivation. Reprinted from The Lenapes by R. S. Grumet and F. W. Porter, 1989, New York, Chelsea House.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The Native Americans of the Northeastern United States, pre-contact
History of the natives of the Northeast

Though more specific groups exist in the Northeast, with rather distinct cultures, the Native Americans throughout the northeastern part of the United States can be described in a few general terms. Arriving in this area during The Woodland Period, from 1000 B.C. to A.D. 1600, these Pre-Columbian natives can be characterized by several key traits: they began the practical use of pottery making, domesticated various plants, and had a progressively more settled village life (Kraft 1986, p. 89). The Archaic Period before it ranged from 8000 B.C. to 1000 B.C., and during this time life in North America consisted largely of hunting and gathering for survival. With each stage in the subsequent Woodland Period, the Native Americans slowly developed the more sedentary lifestyle that the Europeans would encounter upon their arrival in the 17^th century. While the Early Woodland Period (ca. 1000-1 B.C.) was nothing more than a continuation of the previous Archaic Period except for the introduction of pottery, the Late Woodland Period is seen as the era when large-scale farming became much more widespread, in particular the “three sister” crops of corn, beans, and squash (Kraft 1986, p. 115).

Before the arrival of the Dutch in the area, the group of Native American peoples called the Lenni Lenape settled much of the area that is occupied today by the city of New York. These people occupied lands from as far south as the state of Delaware and as far north as Connecticut. The two main bands of Lenape in this region can be identified by the dialect they spoke: either Unami or Munsee, both derived from the Eastern Algonquian language called Delaware. The Munsee primarily occupied the area of New York City and areas further north, bordering with the Five Nations of the Iroquois (Grumet 2009, p. 11). These were the natives of what would become Manhattan.

The Woodland Indians, including the Lenape, lived a seasonal life, characterized by regular mass movements from the south to the north and back. During the winter, when wild plants and animals became unavailable to the natives, “large groups of people were unable to survive in areas with such diminished capacity for producing food…Under such stressful circumstances, it was in everyone’s best interest to fragment into smaller bands or family units and scatter across the landscape….” (Grumet 2009, p. 111). When spring came about and life returned to the land, “families reunited and cooperated in sharing nature’s bounty,” (Grumet 2009, p. 112).

Food production in the Northeast

“The food quest of the Woodland Indians was based primarily on hunting, fishing, and gathering wild crops. They practiced some agriculture [or horticulture, according to Kraft, which consisted more of gardening than what is considered to be larger scale farming and agriculture], but it was definitely of secondary importance and consisted mostly of the Indian staples—corn, beans, and squash” (Ritzenthaler 1983, p. 19). Among the things collected by the Woodland Indians were maple sugar, various berries (cranberries, gooseberries, June berries, blueberries, raspberries), fruit (grapes, cherries), nuts (acorns, hickory nuts, hazelnuts), and vegetables (wild potatoes and onions, milkweed, water lily root).

“To the Woodland Indians, fishing was a year-round occupation,” (Ritzenthaler 1983, p. 21). Fish were caught in a variety of ways, including the use of fishhooks, nets, spears, traps, lures, bait. They also hunted and trapped the animals in the forest, such as deer, moose, fox, otter, beaver, and mink. In addition, some groups (such as the Chippewa and Menomini) took advantage of wild rice, which grew in shallow lakes and streams.

As we’ve seen throughout the Eastern United States, hunting and foraging seemed to be the primary means of finding subsistence, while agriculture played a secondary role. With regard to maize, the following claim can be made:

As explorers pushed out into the New World…they found maize in cultivation in almost all places where the climate and soil permitted the growth of any of its numerous varieties…This area included the greater part of both continents from about the northern limits of what is now the United States to within a thousand miles of the southern tip of South America…In most parts of this area it had been the stable crop for so great a time that the Indians had no record of where it came from or how long their ancestors had it” (Weatherwax 1954, p. 48).

Considering the Northeastern seaboard, history shows that, “some of these plantings covered hundreds of acres and were well cultivated” (Weatherwax 1954, p. 50). Thus, we see that while the Woodland Indians largely sought nutrition through hunting, fishing, and gathering from the environment around them, the Late Woodland Period saw much development in terms of agriculture.

History of Food Production for the Lenape

For the Lenape, New York City (and more specifically, Manhattan) was not a permanent home; “rather, it was more of a three-season ‘resort.’ The Lenape moved to Manhattan for fishing in spring; stayed over to plant some crops, hunt, gather, and fish in the summer; then pulled together their things in a furious fit of activity in fall, bringing in the crops and smoking and drying the meat before the retreat to winter quarters” (Sanderson 2009, p. 112). During their time in Manhattan, the Lenape made extensive use of the animal and plant resources all around the island. Among the animals that were hunted were the various fish and shellfish of the waterways and larger animals such as bears, deer, and fowl. The list of plants that they managed to use was even greater, and illustrated an extremely efficient use of what the environment provided them. They made nets out of hemp and milkweed fiber, as well as the inner bark of American basswood. They gathered all types of berries, and made flour out of acorns, goosefoot seeds, and artichoke tubers (Sanderson 2009, p. 108-9).

Importance of Maize to the Lenape

It is without a doubt that corn, or maize, would eventually be the most important crop of the Lenape Indians. First hand accounts by Dutch settlers described the use of it as one of the “three sister” crops, for example, “The food supplies are various. The principal one is maize, which is their corn…When the maize…is grown two or three feet high, they stick the beans in the ground alongside the maize-stalks…” (Jameson 1909, p. 219). Corn was eaten in numerous ways: from the cob, boiled in water, with beans vegetables, meat or fish, made into hominy (corn kernels soaked in lye and then dried), dried and pulverized to make flour used to make bread and corn meal. (Kraft, 1986, p. 141).

Figure 2.2. Maize plants. Reprinted from Mannahatta: a natural history of New York City (p. 121), by E.W. Sanderson, 2009, New York, Abrams.

Food culture of the Dutch, arriving in the 17th Century
Introduction to the Dutch

Unlike other colonizing groups who settled in the New World and learned to farm the land for food, the Dutch in New York were at first primarily concerned with fur trading. Despite the income that the fur trade yielded, the Dutch had no direct source of nutrition. Eventually, “as the number of settlers who brought livestock and farm implements increased, farming became a full-time livelihood” (Walsh 2000). Bringing over many of their own methods of agriculture from their homeland, the “most important contribution [they] made to the New World was the introduction of grain.” (Lee 1992, p. 51-53) As the first settlers in New York, the Dutch set the foundation of how the first New Yorkers would find sustenance. Their principal crops included wheat, raised barley, rye and buckwheat, which they learned to grow on their new land to make cakes, pastries and breads. Among other foods, dumplings, pancakes and waffles were also prominent in their daily diet.

The Diet of the Early Colonists

The Dutch is credited for many of the recipes and the diet that the first New Yorkers depended on. Their predominance in the field of baking, would eventually lead to the establishment of America’s first bakeries in 1656 in New York. Bringing cooking utensils from their homeland such as long-handled waffle irons, the Dutch heavily impacted the diet of later generations who would grow up as “native New Yorkers”. As the original settlers of the New York region, the Dutch established the basic style of nutrition with the recipes and menus they brought over.

Other foods, such as dairy products were also popular with the Dutch; by bringing over cattle from Holland with them, the Dutch were able to procure milk, butter and cheese. Some of the favorite dishes of the Dutch settlers included hodgepodge (cornmeal porridge cooked with chunks of corned beef and vegetables), roast duck with dumplings, pork with cabbage, and roast goose (served on holidays). Dessert was also enjoyed by the early settlers, the most popular being, “Oliekocken…pastries made with a raised yeast dough, shaped into small balls, and fried in hot lard until golden brown” (Lee 1992, p. 51-53) which today we widely recognize as doughnuts. Also included in their diet were, “Tea, sugar, spices, chocolate, wines and brandies [which] were all readily available in the Dutch colony” (Lee 1992, p. 51-53).

Factors Involved in Determining Early New Yorker’s Diet

Delving deeper into the study of what foods native New Yorkers ate, statistical data of the time period involving food provides interesting information regarding the eating habits of the native New Yorkers. For example, “…for English yeomen [small landowners] of the seventeenth century, their own pigs were the principal source of the meat in their diet. Cattle were kept primarily for dairy production and were slaughtered and eaten only when they could no longer be maintained through the winter” (Stavely 2004, p. 178-180). This excerpt makes it clear that native New Yorkers did not choose to eat more pork than beef merely because of preference, but that there were more intricate details behind why they ate what they ate. This idea that the native New Yorkers diet was largely determined by need rather than want can be further confirmed by the following claim,

“Americans have no doubt always preferred beef, but what they actually ate was             necessarily that which was available, and for the first three centuries of white history in America, what was most readily available was pork” (Root 1981, p. 192-195).

Availability of land and the impracticality of using such land for grazing when it could be used for other purposes were two of the main factors that made New Yorkers depend on swine for their meat intake, regardless of their preference of beef over pork. In fact, during the beginning period of America’s growth as a nation, it was actually reported that Americans ate twice as much beef as Englishmen. As a whole, the New World was plentiful of land and space available for grazing which allowed, “Each settlement [to be] capable of raising for itself as much beef as it needed…But [with] the population of the East Coast [increasing] rapidly; its inhabitants discovered they were not quite as rich in space as they had thought; and much of the land could be better employed for other purposes than grazing” (Root 1981, p. 192-195). Although the space required for grazing large quantities of cattle was eventually found in the Far West, New York with its increasing population and lack of available land was required to continue relying on pork as its main source of meat until much later when beef could be transported across the nation with the use of railroads.

Early Menus for New Yorkers

Near the end of the Revolutionary War, New York once again saw an increase in the diversity of foods consumed by the people. Also, with the end of the war, more and more immigrants from other countries began to flock to New York bringing with them more new recipes and methods of cooking distinct to their culture. Ultimately, in post-revolution New York the daily intake of food by a native New Yorker could be described as depicted below:

Breakfast (Break of dawn/Early morning)

• Porridge
• Cornmeal Mush and molasses
• Cider/Beer
• Breads
• Cold meats
• Fruit pies and pastries
• Scrapple (cornmeal and headcheese)
• Dutch sweetcakes (fried in deep fat)

Dinner (Early afternoon)

• Several meats plus meat puddings and/or deep meat pies containing fruits and spices
• Pancakes and fritters
• Sauces, pickles and catsups
• Soup (cornmeal, porridge, meat broth etc.)

Dinner/Dessert (Afternoon)

• Fresh, cooked or dried fruits
• Custards
• Tarts and sweetmeats
• “Salads” (salads)
• Cakes (Any of the following: pound, gingerbread, spice and cheese)

Supper (More like a bedtime snack)

• Generally consisted of leftovers from dinner
• Gruel (a mixture made from boiling water with oats, “Indian” [corn] meal)
• Roast potatoes prepared with salt
• Ale, cider or some variety of beer

As seen in the above menu, fruits were popular for after a meal and were enjoyed raw with no need for preparation, and were often a poor man’s dessert. Those who were wealthier could enjoy baked goods could choose among a variety of pies such as raisin pie, apple pie or pecan pie just to name a few. Other baked goods such as wheat bread, which had been first introduced by the Dutch colonists remained popular throughout the revolutionary era and even into the post-revolutionary time period.

The congregation of settlers in New York arriving after the Dutch played an important role in providing diversity in the diet of native New Yorkers. What played an even more important role in creating this diversity of food, however, is attributed to New York’s involvement in the Triangular Trade during the 18th century that allowed molasses and rum to become a staple part of the average New Yorker’s diet. After the initial colonial period but prior to the revolutionary era, it was this Triangular Trade that allowed for an even larger diversity of food consumed by native New Yorkers to develop.

RESULTS/FINDINGS
Evidence of European influence on the Lenape lifestyle
Introduction of fertilizer by the Europeans

Conflicting with the idea that maize was the most important crop to the Lenape is the argument that, until the arrival of the Europeans, it was nothing more than a secondary crop to the natives, and of much less value. In her article, Lynn Ceci proposes, “in Coastal New York, native cultivation of maize began, with questionable success, only after European trade and colonization provided the stimulus (and economic basis) for sedentary life,” (Ceci 1990, p. 148). The article describes numerous factors which may have led to the ineffectiveness of corn as a plentiful crop, as has been presented by other researchers. For example, soil quality in the area around New York City and climate both would not have allowed growth as successful as that of southern Algonquians. In addition there is the issue of fertilizer simply being unavailable to the Lenape, “There is…no evidence to support the indigenous development of this advanced technology anywhere in North America, and even the traditionally accepted use of fish as fertilizer by New England’s Algonquians is seriously in doubt.” A resident of New Netherland claims to have never seen the native people of the area use any manure or properly till their land; at most, the burning of forests and brush produced ashes, which served as light fertilizer (Ceci 1990, p. 162). Herbert C. Kraft, archaeologist and a specialist on the Lenape of New Jersey, is in agreement when he states, “Although it is sometimes written that Indians placed fish in the earth as fertilizer where corn, beans, and squash were to be grown, there is no evidence for this practice. Using fish as fertilizer was almost certainly introduced by Europeans in the historic period,” (Kraft 1986, p. 117).

In a different section of the same text, the relationship between the Native Americans and the colonists is described as one in which the Europeans assisted the native agriculture:

At the end of March they begin to break up the earth with mattocks, which they buy from us for the skins of beavers or otters…They make heaps like molehills, each about two and a half feet from the others, which they sow or plant in April with maize, in each heap five or six grains; in the middle of May, when the maize is the height of a finger or more, they plant in each heap three or four Turkish beans, which then grow up against the maize…” (Kraft 1986, p. 107).

Thus, we see that although corn may have been a major crop to the Woodland Indians of the Northeast, there is reason to believe that this was not the case for the Lenape. Evidence seems to suggest that the Dutch arrival was crucial to the establishment of maize cultivation or any other form of true agriculture in New York City (and thus more sedentary living).

Native American contributions, and other New World influences on the colonial lifestyle
Introduction of maize and other plants to the Dutch

As a result of encounters with the Native Americans the Dutch, “quickly adopted Indian corn, which they called ‘Turkey wheat’ “ (Lee 1992, p. 51-53) and learned to make it into porridge that became a central food in their diet as native New Yorkers. Another vegetable that was introduced to native New Yorkers by Lenape Indians (that proved to be as useful as corn) was the potato tuber, which became an important part of native New Yorkers’ diet during the revolutionary era. The many different ways that potato was able to be prepared, combined with its high nutritional value made it not only popular, but also a dietary necessity at meals. Served in various forms including mashed, boiled, stewed, baked and scalloped, potatoes proved to be an important source of sustenance during times when food was scarce. Aside from corn and potatoes, there were also vegetables unknown in Europe that became a regular part of colonial diets. These included a variety of beans and legumes and some peppers, which were popularly grown in vegetable and herb gardens cultivated by the colonists around their homes (Strelch 2009).

Beginnings of a fishing culture

With the increasing development of New York after the initial colonists had settled down, the diet of native New Yorkers evolved from one purely supported by agriculture, to include fishing. The level of fishing increased so drastically later in 1868 that measures were taken to maintain the fish population with the use of fish cultures, artificially depositing ova from fish into streams and allowing them to mature before further heavy fishing was allowed (Times 1868).  The addition of fish into the diet of native New Yorkers brought in a plethora of new recipes and dishes that assimilated themselves into the pre-existing diet of New Yorkers.

DISCUSSION

Despite evidence that both the Native Americans and the arriving Europeans (who would eventually displace them) contributed significantly to each other’s development, it is possible the interactions between them merely accelerated a process that would have occurred regardless.

Was fertilization necessary for the production of corn?

Narrative and archaeological evidence seem to be at odds with regard to the Lenape use of corn. Some research indicates that corn was the most important of the Lenape resources, and that it was more or less a ubiquitous part of their diet. However, this theory requires larger scale agriculture, which in turn requires some form of land renewal (i.e. fertilization). Was it possible for the Lenape to settle down and cultivate corn on a large scale, and if so, did they?

To efficiently grow the maize crop, particularly in a region such as New York, the natives needed to have some knowledge of the benefits of fertilizers. Further south, one “Captain John Smith…note[d] that the Indians of Virginia used no fertilizer for their corn” (Weatherwax 1954, p. 124). Apparently in New England, the natives recognized the importance of fertilizers, and taught the English colonists how this could be achieved by placing a fish in each hill of corn. In addition, he mentions that there is some information regarding the Iroquois in New York pre-contact that suggests that they also knew about the value of fertilizers. As a result, they repeatedly planted corn in the same fields and continually produced “some of the heaviest crops known in the eastern United States at that time” (Weatherwax 1954, p. 124). Between the colonists who repeatedly describe the abundance of maize among the natives, and the scientists who provide archaeological research proving its importance, one might have trouble disputing the value of this crop to the Lenape and related Native Americans in this area.

The central issue that is most often contested is whether fertilizer was used or not. The Lenape were a mobile people, and “could only plant in one place for about twenty years before the soil was depleted and a new field was needed,” (Sanderson 2009, p. 123). This suggests that the Lenape did not understand that the resources in the soil could be renewed through the use of fertilizer. However, twenty years is still a fairly long time for the soil to remain fertile enough for growth. The inconsistency can be accounted for by the oft-mentioned fact that when the corn crop was grown, it was not solitary but one of three sister crops: corn, beans, and squash. “…The beans, which have nitrogen fixing nodules on their roots, transformed nitrogen from the atmosphere into a natural fertilizer, which fed the maize and the beans. The squash, growing its large green leaves between the mounds, kept the weeds down and held in soil moisture between rain showers,” (Sanderson 2009, p. 120). The following diagram shows the effects of different levels of bean-facilitated nitrogen on corn production over time:

Figure 2.3. Model of effects of different levels of bean-facilitated nitrogen on corn production over time. Reprinted from Mannahatta: a natural history of New York City (p. 121), by E.W. Sanderson, 2009, New York, Abrams.

In this manner it seems that it may have been possible for the corn crop to grow in an environment as unsuitable for it as New York, even without the contributions of the Dutch.

Eventual Displacement of the Lenape Indians

With the arrival of the Dutch in New York City came the eventual demise of the Lenape people and culture. While for the most part many American Indian groups were eliminated through direct conflict with the Europeans who settled in the New World, their displacement was facilitated by the exchange of culture between the two groups. As detailed above, at the time of the Dutch’s arrival, the Lenape were nearing the end of the Late Woodland Period, when the hunter-gatherer culture was beginning to die out. Their stays in Manhattan involved some regular growth of crops and new means storing food (which usually indicated long-term settling as opposed to nomadic movement). By introducing the use of fertilizer and certain agricultural tools to the Lenape, the Dutch only furthered the Lenape transition away from their previous migratory lifestyle. Despite this, the Lenape did not develop their own sedentary, agricultural societies alongside the Dutch, and few members of that tribe exist today.

On the other hand, the Lenape provided the newcomers with trade and introduced them to many new resources that would become central to a colonial diet. This allowed the Dutch to easily adapt to this new land; for the most part it was not the techniques they used to sustain themselves which they were forced to change, but rather the actual food supplies that they could use. With the aid of the Lenape, the native New Yorkers were given a leg up in the New World, and as a result they continued to grow and expand. The Lenape, who were still adjusting to settled civilization, were no match for the quickly growing colonial societies that were formed, and consequently the Lenape were pushed further west. Today, small groups of Lenape remain in parts of Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

CONCLUSION

For most societies, food is by and large one of biggest components of each respective “culture.” Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the various native peoples of North America made efficient use of the plants, animals, and other natural resources around them; in this way, their environment largely determined their diets. In the case of the Lenape Indians during the 17th century, this meant that they were still a predominantly hunter-gatherer society, only just discovering agriculture. Europeans, like the Dutch, had dietary traditions which had been developed centuries before, and they had thus long passed the hunter-gatherer stage and were well versed in trade and agriculture. As a result, their diets suited their more sedentary lifestyles. Upon arriving in would-be New York, however, they needed to adapt to a new set of resources which they could make use of. It was at this stage that the Dutch and the Lenape cultures would meet, and an interchange of ideas and customs would take place. This blending of culture was so extensive that, coupled with a lack of historical evidence, it is truly difficult to determine who contributed what technology, or what resources. The conflicting stories of maize cultivation by the Lenape in the New York area are one example of this rather ambiguous subject. What is clear, however, is that contributions were made from both groups, despite the eventual dominant influence of the Dutch, who gave rise to the native New Yorkers. Nevertheless, the blending of food traditions has allowed otherwise lost cultures like that of the Lenape to be persevered to this very day.

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