When we are in Tucson we never fail to go to Mission San Xavier del Bac just 10 miles south on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. Our friend Vicki said we should not call them Indians because that is based on Columbus's mistaken belief that he had sailed all the way to India. We should call them Native Americans instead. Well, I replied, the Tohono O'odham call themselves Indians and the Federal Government calls them Indians. And besides, because they did not speak English at the time, it is not likely they called themselves Native Americans either. In just about every Indian language in all of North America, the Indians just called themselves, in their own language, the equivalent of "The People." As in, some white guy asks, "Who are you?" and they answer. "Oh, we're The People. Why do you want to know? Ain't it obvious that we are the people?" Vicki still is not buying it. You can make up your own mind.
The mission San Xavier del Bac was founded by Padre Eusebio Kino, a legend in the Southwest, in 1692 but it was destroyed in an Apache raid in 1770. The present church was rebuilt 1783-97. One of the reasons that Indians in the Southwest actually welcomed missions was that the Spanish, by and large, protected them from their more aggressive Indian neighbors like the Apaches and Comanches. Besides, if you consider the living conditions that most Indians experienced in the 17th and 18th centuries, a house with rock or adobe walls looks pretty good.
San Xavier is called "The White Dove of the Desert." Perhaps you can imagine how impressive it must have been for people arriving on foot 200 years ago--the largest building they had ever seen silhouetted against the cerulean Arizona sky. It's still pretty impressive today--even for travelers who have seen the Empire State Building or the Eiffel Tower.
Today, the Tohono O'odham are working very hard to recover their agricultural and dietary heritage. There is an exceptionally high rate of obesity and Type 2 diabetes on the reservation. The Tohono O'odham have evolved a very frugal digestive system to cope with repeated food shortages for thousands of years. That is, their bodies have learned to live on less so they are not equipped to deal with the modern diet of your typical American. They have a farm co-op that raises and sells Indian produce. In a bit of unmentioned irony, knowledge of their historic agricultural methods and food culture is being regenerated with the research assistance of a white woman at the University of Arizona. Who is from Slovenia. Only in America, as they say. (And, perhaps, later we will discuss the legitimacy of calling this country and both continents "America" after Amerigo Vespucci. But probably not.)
We like the Indian tacos sold on the reservation. This woman conceded that virtually all the ingredients are "borrowed from other cultures." What makes them "Indian" tacos is they are made by Indians. Green chili tacos are pretty good but the red chili tacos have more oomph.
You pay a little extra for authenticity. Pillsbury would love to get $14 lb. for flour.
Sorry, Vicki. The Indians who grow and sell reservation farm produce at their co-op store didn't get the memo so they went and labeled their stuff American Indian Foods.
Joe, who plays Indians in Western movies, also designs jewelry. Shirley wears his ear rings.
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