9781422277485

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C onn ect i ng C u ltu r es T hrough F am i ly and F ood

Over that bridge came peoples from Asia, perhaps a few thousand in total. (Some evidence shows that humans may have arrived much earlier, some 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, but a large wave came during the Pleistocene.) Then, by about 11,000 years ago, global temperatures began to warm again. Ice melted, sea levels rose, and the Beringia land bridge was covered bywater. Once again, Asia and the Americas were separated. The people who had arrived, though, had established themselves. They spread to the east across modern-day Canada, and then south over what is now the United States, and Central and South America. Regional Flair H undreds of tribes have lived in the vast area of the Americas, and they all superbly adapted to their particular regions. Whether their environment was hot or cold, wet or dry, lush with vegetation or seem- ingly barren, their foodways developed to take advantage of everything nature had to offer. In North America, for example, cultures in the Pacific Northwest had a diet that depended heavily on fish, particularly salmon, that ran in the northern rivers. The Plains Indians, meanwhile, might have eaten occa- sional fish frommidcontinental rivers. However, they reliedmainlyon land animals, notably buffalo, which ranged the central plains inmassive herds. Inother areas,NativeAmericans ate fowl suchas goose, duck, pheasant, and turkey, as well as small game such as opossums and raccoons. Snakes, turtles, and insects were also plentiful food sources. Valuable calories came from fat in sources like bear backs and beaver tails. Plant foodswere alsowidely consumed. Corn, potatoes, beans, squash, acorns, rice, onions, and celery, and all kinds of fruit were staples of