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The following is a Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics
(RIDGE) project summary. More...
All projects summarized were conducted under research grants from ERS and the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of ERS or USDA.
Contact the designated Project Contact for information on any publications
resulting from the project summarized here.
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Project:
Federal Food Programs, Traditional Foods and the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Nations of the Fort Belknap Indian ReservationYear: 1999 Research Center: American Indian Studies Program, The University of Arizona Investigator: Grant, Rachel C., Misty Arcand, Caroline Plumage, and Max G. White, Jr. Institution: Fort Belknap College Project Contact:
Rachel C. Grant
Fort Belknap College
P.O. Box 159
Harlem, MT 59526
406-353-2607 ext. 267
ironeyesrcg@netscape.net Summary: Eating habits and food preparation among the Gros
Ventre and Assiniboine peoples have changed dramatically
since the establishment of the Fort Belknap
Indian Reservation and the introduction of Federal
food distribution programs on the reservation. This
project documented such changes from the perspective
of tribal elders, community members, and associated
service providers. Data were collected from both men
and women over the age of 50 through a survey
designed by Fort Belknap College’s principal investigator,
a consultant, and three student researchers who
were graduates of the college. The survey was administered
in and around Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
communities during the summer of 1999.
The story that emerges from the study is one of change
and loss. Primary food sources have changed dramatically.
The results reflect change from traditional
modes of obtaining food (hunting, fishing, and gathering)
to reliance on store-bought food. Small gardens,
which were prominently featured as a food source historically,
have greatly diminished in present times.
The use of some dairy products (milk and butter) has
varied little over time, but cheese and cottage cheese
make up a larger portion of the dairy products consumed
today. Survey results also indicated a majority
of elders do not receive any type of assistance from the
food programs available on Fort Belknap Reservation.
Surplus commodities are distributed on the reservation,
but not widely.
Traditional food preparation has been replaced by consumption
of fast foods, and the traditional Indian diet
of buffalo, deer, antelope and elk meats, wild turnip,
onion, and carrot, and choke cherries, June berries,
service berries, Morgan grapes and Indian peanuts has
all but disappeared. Use of traditional foods is now
limited to reservation-wide cultural events. The
knowledge and skills of tribal elders concerning traditional
hunting sites, traditional food preparation, and
the use of traditional herbs and plants for healing purposes
has not passed to the next generation and is at
risk of being lost and disappearing altogether from
reservation life and culture.
The study findings suggest that opportunities may
exist for less conventional food assistance and nutrition
education programs to support the development of
traditional food resources on the reservation. Such programs
might promote improved nutrition and
increased self-sufficiency for the reservation community
while at the same time encouraging the preservation
of the tribes’ productive natural resources, heritage,
and culture.
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