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Recipes for Health – Globetrotter Edition
In his travels around the globe, Dr. Weston A. Price documented the exemplary health of Indigenous Peoples eating a traditional diet in each region he visited. Here are a few of our favorite recipes to boost your health and nutrition, featuring methods and ingredients rooted in ancient traditions from around the world, including several areas visited by Dr. Price.
Bon appétit!
Lacto-Fermented “Pickled” Green Beans
Much like traditional African foods and dishes influenced other regions of the world, African cuisine in America forever changed the culinary landscape. Influenced early on by Spanish and French cuisines, it ultimately gave us the southern “soul food” that we know (and love) today.
Carrying on the traditions of their ancestors (who considered fermented foods to be of the utmost importance for women and children’s health), African-American cooks preserved garden-fresh foods by pickling or fermenting. One of the oldest food processing technologies, fermentation of African indigenous vegetables is known to improve nutritional value, with some lactic acid bacteria having been found to possess cholesterol-lowering and antioxidant properties.
Click here for the recipe and video.
Total time: 15-25 minutes
Long before high fructose corn syrup tarnished its good name, maize (the historically correct term for corn) was a Mesoamerican staple first cultivated over 9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte, and was heavily featured in ancient recipes such as “pozole,” from the ancient Nahuatl word pozolli.
In its natural state, corn is difficult for humans to digest. The process of nixtamalization, which involves soaking and cooking corn in an alkaline solution (usually limewater), allowed these early Mesoamerican peoples to render it more digestible and make its essential nutrients, such as calcium and Vitamin B3, more bioavailable. Today, thanks to modern-day relatives of these ancient cultures, nixtamalization remains a staple in traditional Latin American cuisine, as well as regional Mexican gastronomy, both of which continue to influence many chefs across the U.S.
Click here for the recipe and video.
Total Time: 1-1.5 hours
Prior to the construction of hydroelectric dams along the Columbia River, salmon, the prime protein of choice for many local tribes, flourished in schools along the Pacific Northwest coast. However, post-dam construction, salmon runs were at 1-3% of the levels of those observed during Lewis and Clark’s original trek through the region. Truly an ancient food, human interaction with salmon can be traced back thousands of years.
For modern-day ancestors of the Indigenous cultures along this beautiful and biodiverse coastline, such as the Yurok, the limited salmon stock remains an important dietary staple, with the mothers and women of local tribes leading the fight to restore this nourishing food to its abundance once more.
Click here for the recipe and video.
Total time: 40-45 minutes
Considered by many Austronesian cultures to come from the “tree of life,” coconuts have played an integral role in sustaining many traditional cultures, such as the Polynesians, who utilized this famous “tree nut” for a myriad of purposes, including the “coir” (husk fiber) for making ropes and household items. During his travels, Dr. Weston A. Price found these peoples to be of a consistent jovial disposition, as well as being skilled sea navigators and fishermen.
In modern times, the coconut has become a symbol of the wellness world, having overcome the belief, first spread during the 1950’s, that saturated fat sources, such as coconut, were unhealthy. Along with providing essential minerals like magnesium (a characteristically low mineral in the American diet), coconut is also high in medium-chain fatty acids, an immediate energy source that also helps to regulate glucose metabolism.
Click here for the recipe and video.
Cook time: 45 minutes-1 hour
In case you missed the last Recipe Feature, you can find it here: Recipes for Health – Summer Edition
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Do you have a favorite Price-Pottenger or other ancestral recipe? Email us at [email protected] and let us know about your experiences with these and other healthful recipes!
To your best health,
The Price-Pottenger Team