Acorn Mush - Wiiwish - in a basket, stone from a fire and Indigenous foodways talks

Incredibly, the steam was from a rock heated in a fire, then stirred in the Wiiwish... IN a basket. The pounded acorns and water eventually thickened and the basket was not burned.

The 40th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2006 included Native American basket makers from around the country. One group from California demonstrated preparing Wiiwish (acorn mush) in a family heirloom basket.

Acorn mush was made from black acorn flour or meal and water. Soapstones were heated in a fire and transferred by two poles acting as tongs. 

After being quickly dumped in water to clean off the ash, the rock was lowered into the acorn mixture and constantly moved on the stick stirrers so not to burn the basket. A new rock replaced the old until the mixture thickened. Winnowing basket -

Past posts on acorns (Medieval) HERE. Links to info on grinding holes rock, 1933 movie, photos 1908, 1919, 1923 HERE

Ancient mortar holes, California 1919

Acorn shucking 1908

Acorn mash in basket and heating rocks 1908

Acorn caches 1908

Indigenous foodways virtual talks 2020

Oct 6 Indigenous Food Sovereignties. Miijim: Food as Relations. Environmental & Urban Change. York University HERE. TAPES HERE

Oct 12 Indigenous Foodways: Public Program in celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Food and the Book: 1300-1800. Newberry and Folger libraries. HERE. TAPES HERE

Oct 18 Sun 4pm Manoomin: The Story of Wild Rice in Michigan. Barbara Barton. Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor HERE TAPES will be HERE or HERE

Oct 20 Tue 2:30-4:30 Indigenous and Black Food Relations. Miijim: Food as Relations. Environmental & Urban Change. York University. Canada HERE. TAPES HERE

Oct 22 Thur 3-5 Indigenous perspectives: The place of Canada in Canadian Food Studies. Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS) HERE

Oct 27 Tue 2:30-4:30 Learning from Manoomin (Wild Rice). Miijim: Food as Relations. Environmental & Urban Change. York University. Canada POSTPONED HERE. TAPES will be HERE

Oct 29 Thurs 10pm Conversation with the Director of the movie Gather: The Fight to Revitalize Our Native Foodways. Panel discussion. Autry Museum in LA HERE

Nov 10 Tue 12-1 Where has our Wild Rice Gone? [Manoomin] Dr. Marie Schaefer. MSU Extension Conservation Stewards Program. Michigan State U. HERE

Nov 10 Tue 2:30-4:30 Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Food Systems Miijim: Food as Relations. Environmental & Urban Change. York University. Canada HERE. TAPES HERE

Nov 10 Tue 7-8:30 Traditional Pueblo Bread Making in Ah-cutoo (horno, adobe oven). Sage Andrew Romero, member of the Tovowahamatu Nuumu/Tuah-Tahi (Big Pine Paiute/Taos Pueblo) tribes, will tell "the stories of the histories of bread making." Dancing Earth. HERE

Nov 13 Fri 4 Rethinking the Tablescape: Indigenous Origins of New England Cuisine. Rachel Beth Sayet, Mohegan educator's talk & demo. American Antiquarian Society. $15 Indigenous people no charge. HERE

Dec 8 Tue 8pm Indigenous Seed-saving. Beth Roach of Alliance of Native Seedkeepers. Virginia. Women's Earth Alliance HERE
Past talk TAPES - Sharing Seeds: our first treaty. Haudenosaunee Story of Creation HERE

Hominy and Posole: The Science of Native American Cooking. Freddie Bitsoie. Science and Cooking. Harvard. TAPE HERE

©2020 Patricia Bixler Reber
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