What Types of Food Did the Caddo Indians Eat?
Foods that Caddo Indians ate include pumpkins, corn, sunflower, beans and meat. Their main source of food was farming and they planted crops in the woods. Men hunted animals, such as deer, buffalo and rabbits, to get meat, while women went into the forests to gather roots, blackberries, acorns, persimmons and many other types of fruits.
The Caddo Indians cleared large fields in the woods where they planted their crops. They used fires to clear away the grass and other weeds. They did this during the fall or winter every year to prevent regrowth of the grass. They prepared the fields using spades and hoes, which they made from bones and wood. After the harvest, they kept the best corn to use as seeds in the next planting season. They dried their produce and kept it in raised granaries to protect it from rodents.
Men formed hunting parties and would go as far as the Southern Plains to hunt. The Caddo Indians’ favorite prey was the white-tailed deer. They hunted buffaloes once they had acquired horses that made it easy for them to chase animals. They also traded some of their produce to get foods from other communities.
