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Commonwealth Museum   Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin
Commonwealth Museum Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin

Food for Thought: Native Traditions


Before the arrival of Europeans, native people in this region planted crops and moved with the seasons to hunt and gather food.


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“With the corn they put in each hill three of four Brazilian beans which are different in colors, when they grow up they interlace with the corn which reaches to the height of five to six feet, and they keep the ground very free from weeds.”

– Samuel de Champlain on native farming

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The “three sisters,” corn, beans, and squash.
The “three sisters,” corn, beans, and squash.
- Seed Savers Exchange

A demonstration of Wampanoag women cultivating crops in a photo of actors portraying Wampanoag women cultivating crops. Crops were central to the native diet.
Wampanoag women cultivated crops that were central to the native diet.
- Plimoth Plantation

The Three Sisters
 In 1676, during King Philip’s War, Mary Rowlandson was held captive by Nipmuc Indians. She later described their diet in a situation of extreme deprivation. “The chief and commonest food was ground nuts. They eat also nuts and acorns, artichokes, lilly roots, ground beans and several other weeds and roots…also bear, venison, beaver, tortoise, frogs, squirrels, dogs, skunks, rattlesnakes.” Reluctant at first, she came to regard some native foods as “savory.” “For to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”


A demonstration of Wampanoag cooking in a photograph of native American actors at Plimoth Plantation

Wampanoag Crops . . .

Waban, an early convert to Christianity, was held on Deer Island during King Philip’s War. Despite his friendship with colonists, he and other “Praying Indians” asked for compensation for lands lost during the conflict. Waban was about eighty years old at the time.

Waban . . .

An English Woman on Native Foods
 In 1676, during King Philip’s War, Mary Rowlandson was held captive by Nipmuc Indians. She later described their diet in a situation of extreme deprivation. “The chief and commonest food was ground nuts. They eat also nuts and acorns, artichokes, lilly roots, ground beans and several other weeds and roots…also bear, venison, beaver, tortoise, frogs, squirrels, dogs, skunks, rattlesnakes.” Reluctant at first, she came to regard some native foods as “savory.” “For to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”

King Philip’s War
King Philip, also known as Metacom or Metacomet, led a revolt against English colonists in 1675. Loss of land and native traditions sparked the rebellion which became the deadliest war, per capita, in American history. The war ended shortly after Philip’s death.