Fry bread has become a symbol of inter-tribal unity, since almost everyone has a recipe for it although it is basically the same. It is a staple among Native Americans, perenially popular at pow-wows, and there are even frybread restaurants. Fry bread tastes different depending on what kind of oil is used for the frying and how it is kneaded or shaped. It started out from Native women making the best of the rations they got on the reservations which usually didn't consist of much more than flour, salt, sugar, oil and coffee. The frying part is an older tradition, when bear or deer tallow was used to cook seed-meal cakes.

Here's a standard modern recipe using instant dry milk, which is optional.
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup instant dry milk
2 cups shortening

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, powdered milk and water. Heat shortening until flakes of flour start bubbling when dropped into oil. Pull off a palm-sized ball of dough. Roll into a smooth ball then flatten out. Put into hot shortening and fry till brown, then turn over and brown other side. Drain fry bread on paper towels.

Fry bread can be eaten just like any other bread, with stew, soup or

Top with wojapi (berry pudding) or some other fruit topping. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and/or cinnamon.

4 pounds berries or cooked apples or cooked peaches
4 cups water
2 cups sugar
half package cornstarch or arrowroot (to thicken)

Mash fruit. Set aside some of the water and mix well with the cornstarch or arrowroot until smooth. Put mashed fruit, water and sugar in a pot and slowly bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in the watered cornstarch or arrowroot mixture and return the pot to low heat, stirring until it thickens to a pudding consistency.

(from the website of the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah.www.cherokee.org)

A couple other ways to eat frybread:

Add ground meat and taco sauce and top with lettuce, chopped tomato and shredded cheese for an "Indian Taco". (these are popular at pow-wows)

Add a little more salt to the frybread recipe and you can roll out pieces of the dough about 1/2 inch thick and fry it up then wrap it around grilled hot dogs. Kids love those!

Now we get to the controversial part. As you can see, frybread is not a very "healthy" food. Consider the effects of a diet with frybread as one of the main blocks on the food pyramid. Also consider its evolution. There are some who joke (but it isn't really funny) that frybread is responsible for the deaths of more Native Americans than the U.S. federal government. Currently it is a rather controversial issue, given the extremely high occurences of diabetes and obesity among Native Americans. Fry bread can be made with wheat flour and canola oil instead of white flour and lard. Click here to read an article on this debate.