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Comment by dieselgate | Hacker News Reader

What a great article if not for only the context of what Native populations of the American northeast would eat! Boiled horse hoof is making me laugh because it sounds horrendous, but hey don’t know til you try. I also got a kick out of the woman saying something like “first week captive I couldn’t eat, second week I ate a little, third week everything tasted amazing”. Of course the Native population knew how to eat well and had an incredibly diverse food system! Even Native people in comparatively extreme (elevation/desert etc) environments like modern Mexico City or the American southwest (and beyond) thrived.

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The early settlers, as they point out, also had a far more diverse diet than we do now. In fact, they (partly) ate passenger pigeons out of existence.

It seems to me that China still has this kind of diversity somehow. Going to a large Chinese supermarket is dizzying in the variety of vegetables, dried fungus, seaweed, spices, etc. on display. I wish I knew more about it, and how they maintained that diverse food culture.

> In fact, they (partly) ate passenger pigeons out of existence.

Mann's 1491 suggests this may be a myth, as passenger pigeon remains are nearly non-existent in native refuse piles, so they don't seem to have been a normal part of their diet (at least, before contact). Rather, he paints both their incredible abundance and subsequent demise as consequences of contact with Europe: the boom in the passenger pigeon population may have been a sign of an ecosystem experiencing a catastrophe, resulting from large areas of cultivated land falling out of use as entire cities were depopulated by disease, causing a temporary but enormous increase in easy, available calories for animals positioned to take advantage of it, and of course their decline and extinction is entirely a post-contact event.

[EDIT] I misread you as having written that the native people contributed to the demise of the pigeons, but I think the info's still broadly relevant so I'll let the post stand.

"I wish I knew more about it, and how they maintained that diverse food culture."

My ex-wife is Chinese and I might be able to assist a bit.

China is a massive country and each province has their own "special dishes".

For the Chinese out there reading this - you can guess where she's from when i tell you their speciality is "Guìlín mǐfěn"

Anyhow, when you go to a large Chinese grocery store in North America you are looking at the fruits, vegetables, etc from a large number of provinces.

So if someone from Guangxi goes there for Hot Peppers they can find it. If someone else is looking to make Peking duck can find what they need as well.

Back in China, someone from Guangxi wouldn't be making a lot of Peking duck...

Hope this helps?

pigeons are delicious

A lot of people eat slow cooked goat hooves and it’s absolutely delicious, probably my favorite part of the goat. There’s plenty of meaty fat on the feet and lots of delicious bone marrow. The soup is always very rich because of the fat. Maybe horse hooves are similar?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paya_(food)

I believe it thanks for chiming in! When you say “slow cooked” it certainly has more appeal. Oh gosh now I’m curious

Though I should add it’s never just the hooves but the bottom 6 inches of the foot including the hooves.

Was wondering about that part..

(Hey, want a laugh? lets give the worse bits to the prisoner to see if he vomits)

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