Whether you’re observing Indigenous Peoples Day up in Berkeley or Native Americans Day in South Dakota or just plain-Jane Columbus Day everywhere else, happy that one.   We hope you have a paid day off and aren’t too frustrated by all the closures around town.  We weren’t really sure how to celebrate this one but, with a little digging, we discovered fry bread. It makes sense that Native American foods would be bum friendly. There’s a pretty disturbing history still making itself felt. We present this article on fry bread in the hopes of honoring one of the many peoples who make up our fair city.

Fry bread is- you guessed it- some tasty fried dough Native American style. The ingredients are pretty basic and pretty cheap; you can mix up a batch with just flour, water, shortening, salt, baking powder and maybe eggs or milk. This bread is the creative result of peoples trying to get by. Frybread is the product of the government rations for the Native Americans in the 1800s.

Different tribes have their own unique recipes. The Manataka American Indian Council has a whole list of the recipe variations. Since we don’t have permission to re-print here, we’ll just give you this link to their awesome frybread recipes. Whether you choose Blackfeet, Cherokee or Chickasaw, it is sure to be delicious. There is also an original Navajo recipe in What’s Cooking America which goes into a bit more fry bread history.

Serving suggestions include sides of honey, jam, or powdered sugar. Or, use it as a base for Indian tacos and fill your fry bread with savories like ground meat.

If you’re not into making it yourself, track down Auntie’s Fry Bread truck (hint @auntiesfrybread). We’ve heard good things and would really be into testing out that new strawberry concoction.

We are glad to be in this country (thank you Columbus), but hope the frybread helps us be mindful of the complex history that got us here.