What do you think?
Rate this book
Zuñi Breadstuff
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
732 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Read
October 5, 2023I had a lot of fun with this book. It's part of my "people and grains" reading series, in which I'm trying to investigate the idea that grains have been a primary food for so-called "hunter-gatherers," and that meat played a relatively small part.
This book does have many passages that bear on that question, in particular legends about the forebears of the Zuni who were believed to have migrated and fed primarily on wild seeds until they were given the "seed of seeds," maize, and shown how to cultivate it.
Zunis prized hunters and ate meat, but Cushing goes out of his way to point out what a small portion of their meals it made up and how gauche it was to overindulge in it. A Zuni stew might be flavored with a small amount of shredded meat, or a single stick of jerky would be made to last a whole meal as a kind of lollipop/serving utensil.
One surprise from this book came from the personalities of the Zuni. They sound like they were a hilarious bunch and loved to give their white brother from "Wassintona" a hard time. The passage about Cushing's introduction to "rat-brine" near the end cracked me up, wherein his adopted elder brother implores their traveling companions to raid a wood rat's nest to brew up some of this brine. Cushing's disgusted face, as his elder brother imagines it, displays an irrepressible excitement and hunger for rat-brine.
Definitely a fun read, and gave me so many ideas for what to do with cornmeal!
This book does have many passages that bear on that question, in particular legends about the forebears of the Zuni who were believed to have migrated and fed primarily on wild seeds until they were given the "seed of seeds," maize, and shown how to cultivate it.
Zunis prized hunters and ate meat, but Cushing goes out of his way to point out what a small portion of their meals it made up and how gauche it was to overindulge in it. A Zuni stew might be flavored with a small amount of shredded meat, or a single stick of jerky would be made to last a whole meal as a kind of lollipop/serving utensil.
One surprise from this book came from the personalities of the Zuni. They sound like they were a hilarious bunch and loved to give their white brother from "Wassintona" a hard time. The passage about Cushing's introduction to "rat-brine" near the end cracked me up, wherein his adopted elder brother implores their traveling companions to raid a wood rat's nest to brew up some of this brine. Cushing's disgusted face, as his elder brother imagines it, displays an irrepressible excitement and hunger for rat-brine.
Definitely a fun read, and gave me so many ideas for what to do with cornmeal!
January 22, 2009
Another excellent choice for those people interested in Native American cultures and creation myths. Truly a classic.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews