Indian Bread Thesis

Introduction and Final Thesis Statement and Research Question Upon encountering the recipe “Indian Bread” from the The New Cookbook published by E. W. Gillette Co., edited by Grace E. Denison in 1906 (Denison, 1906, p. 268), it is likely that this recipe was not written by a Canadian Indigenous person, as Indian is not their true identity. It makes one wonder, where the foods one eats comes from, as this is not something consumers think about when in the market. This is in addition to the acts of colonization that lurk on Canadian land, and was vividly taking place around the publication of the Indian Bread recipe. Was this recipe, then, a form of appreciating the breads of the Indigenous communities that helped sustain the lives of incoming …show more content…
Matthes (2016) explains that the First nations have been famous victims of “misrepresentation, misuse, and theft of the stories, styles, and material heritage” (p. 2). It is unclear what exactly about the Indian Bread recipe is Indigenous. There is the inclusion of Indian meal (corn), a crop that is a part of the Indigenous culinary knowledge, and was passed down to generations through cultivating techniques, ceremonial events, communal agriculture, and as a form of sustenance as Berzok (2005) explains in her book. Therefore, this paper aims to answer how the recipe for Indian Bread is appropriated by means of mistranslation of the recipe, recipe’s ingredients and the absence of any context. To which the thesis is: the Indian Bread recipe is appropriated, as the cultural and …show more content…
20). As was aforementioned, the knowledge given to the settlers by the Indigenous was unappreciated. “However, the new settlers had forgotten that many of their farming methods had been taken over directly from the Indians whom they were pushing westward” (Cornelius, 1999, p. 22). The colonial powers that were encountering and stealing the foodways were “shadowing a west-ward moving colonialism”, as the Indigenous, whom were called Indians, were seen as hunters, and their hunting-style of agriculture was transitioning to become inferior to the ways of the incoming immigrants (Cornelius, 1999, p. 22). Unfortunately, it is evident that this knowledge was not exchanged with the Indigenous, it was replaced, as is vastly known that the lands and cultures (several contexts) were stolen, tormented and even appropriated. As the lands were taken, the several foods that were harvested were stolen, and underwent renovations, which will be discussed further on using the Indian Bread