![]() ![]() ![]() In a 2019 article for NBC News, writer Simon Moya-Smith argued that for Navajo people, fry bread is good for the heart and certainly the soul because it is a reminder that Native Americans did everything they could to survive aggressive encroachment and persecution. A fry bread recipe concludes the book, and an author’s note offers vital, detailed context about this varied dish and its complex history (“The story of fry bread is the story of American Indians”). Still, for many Indigenous people, casting fry bread as a symbol of oppression and trauma doesn’t tell the whole story. In blues and browns with bright highlights, Martinez-Neal’s wispy art features a diverse group of six children carrying ingredients and learning about each statement. ![]() ![]() Bolstering the bold statements, spare poems emphasize fry bread in terms of provenance (“Fry bread is history/ The long walk, the stolen land”), culture (“Fry bread is art/ Sculpture, landscape, portrait”), and community (“Fry bread is time/ On weekdays and holidays/ Supper or dinner/ Powwows and festivals”). Using brief statements that begin “fry bread is,” Maillard, who is a member of the Mekusukey band of the Seminole Nation tribe, creates a powerful meditation on the food as “a cycle of heritage and fortune.” In each spread, descriptions of fry bread range from the experiential ( flavor, sound) to the more conceptual ( nation, place). ![]()
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