What Food Did the Pueblo Indians Eat?

Pueblo Indians grew much of the food they ate, including corn or maize, beans, squash, pumpkins and wild rice. They hunted and ate deer, elk, bighorn sheep and rabbit. They also looked for naturally occurring foods like seeds and greens to gather.

Pueblo Indians obtained food by raising domesticated animals, hunting, fishing, gathering and farming. They raised turkeys and hunted game, such as antelope, but their diet primarily consisted of squash, beans, onions and corn, which was important in their spiritual life and ceremonies. They roasted corn after the fall harvest and made corn on the cob. They dried chili peppers, using them to flavor other food, and used what they hunted and grew in stews, stretching their food stock as far as they could.

They made bread using corn flour and piki bread using blue corn. To make this crispy and thin bread, they used finely ground cornmeal, ash and water to make batter and cooked it on a hot stone.

They sought out eggs, honey, maple syrup, salt, roots and greens. Native Americans gathered nuts, including peanuts, pine nuts, cashews, hickory nuts and acorns. Fruits they gathered included cranberries, strawberries, yucca, wild plums and persimmons. Pueblo Indians also ate ricegrass, amaranth and goosefoot seeds both on their own and as part of other recipes.