Iroquoians, 1350

Fish

Fish was a staple food for the Iroquoians. They used it in sagamite, but also smoked it or dried it so they could store it for winter. About 15% of the calories in the Iroquoians’ diet came from fish.

The women were the ones who did most of the fishing. The men helped, but used different techniques. This took up a large part of the day, especially in the spring and fall when fish were spawning and migrating.

In the St. Lawrence Valley, Iroquoian women fished for whitefish, eel, catfish, pickerel, sturgeon, salmon, smelt, bass, trout and more.

Venison

The game brought back to the camp would feed the entire clan and provide clothing, too. The fur and hides were turned into moccasins, robes, breechcloths and cloaks. The bones were used to make tools.

Berries and nuts

The Iroquoians did eat berries and different types of nuts ... but they wouldn’t be very good in soup!

During berry-picking season, the women would gather raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, cranberries and blackberries in clearings in the woods, to supplement their basic diet. They also brought nuts they found in the forest back to camp. The juicy berries were an excellent source of vitamin C, while the nuts provided the fat and protein they needed to survive.

Corn

Sagamite is a corn soup, but wasn’t usually made with kernels or cobs of corn. The idea was more to make a sort of mush out of corn flour.

Corn was a staple food for the Iroquoians and was prepared in different ways. It was made into bread and soup, turned into a sort of mush, and eaten on the cob, boiled, roasted or even buried in mud and left to rot before it was eaten (this was called “stinking corn,” or eindohy).

There were some drawbacks to eating so much corn, however. Because it is high in sugar, the Iroquoians got cavities.

In addition, the variety of corn grown by the Iroquoians had very hard kernels. The outer coating on the kernels had to be softened, either by grinding them or cooking them with an alkaline ingredient. The Iroquoians usually did this by adding ground limestone or ashes to the cooking water. Sometimes they also used pottery made from clay with little bits of shell mixed in.

Beans

Many varieties of different coloured beans could be used in corn soup.

The Iroquoians ate lots of beans, which they grew alongside corn and squash.

In order to grow and harvest their crops, the Iroquoians had to stay in one spot. This encouraged them to become sedentary, and led to a clearer division of labour between men and women.

Squash

Many varieties of squash could be used in sagamite.

The Iroquoians grew squash alongside corn and beans, mainly in fields near the village.

Each plant benefited the other two in some way. The corn stalks provided a place for the beans to climb as they grew. The beans improved the quality of the soil, by fixing nitrogen in it. And the squash shaded the bases of the plants with its wide leaves, keeping the soil moist and relatively weed free.

Corn flour

Iroquoian women mixed corn flour and water to make a sort of mush that they used as the base for sagamite.

To prepare the corn flour, Iroquoian women would grind the kernels between two stones or in large wooden mortars made from hollowed out tree trunks. The powder could then be sifted or not, depending on the recipe.

The corn flour was used to make soup, as well as corn bread, or carraconny.

Water

To make sagamite you need water! Iroquoian women would heat water on the fire and add all kinds of ingredients. Water was all the Iroquoians drank.

Fresh water would be drawn from a lake, creek or river near the temporary camp. The Pointe à Callière site was perfect for short stays, since the Iroquoians could fish there, and there was a clearing, woods and a source of fresh water nearby. Best of all, the Point was located at the mouth of the Little St-Pierre River, a natural waterway inland, back to their villages.

Milk

Since the Iroquoians did not raise any livestock, they had no animals to provide milk.

It was the Europeans who introduced this practice when they arrived several centuries later.

Crab

Although the Iroquoians fished in the St. Lawrence River as they moved around, they weren’t very accustomed to this marine environment and did not take advantage of all its resources. They didn’t eat large crustaceans like crab and lobster, unlike some other Algonquin-speaking peoples who lived on the Atlantic coast year-round.

Salt

The St. Lawrence Iroquoians rarely seasoned their food, and then only lightly. It was the Europeans who introduced them to salt when they arrived in North America.

There is no salt in sagamite.

Tobacco

Tobacco was part of Iroquoian culture. The men grew it on small plots in the village.

But tobacco wasn’t used in food! The Iroquoians smoked it in clay pipes and made ceremonial offerings with it.

Tin can

We are in the year 1350 – tin cans wouldn’t be invented for a long time yet! It wasn’t until 1795, in France, when Nicolas Appert first came up with the idea of preserving food by sterilizing it in sealed containers.

The Iroquoians preserved their meat, fish, fruit and other food by smoking or drying it.

Hen

North American Natives were not familiar with hens, pigs, horses or cows – all of these animals came from the Old World. When the Europeans arrived in North America a few centuries later, they brought livestock with them and raised it here.

The meat the Iroquoians ate came from game that they hunted.