Americas top ten endangered foods are written about in an enlightening article called RAFT (Renewing Americas Food Traditions). Within this article is contains a fascinating view of our early indigenous foods that are on the brink of extinction due to the onslaught of product standardization that was prevalent in order to feed the masses.

The trend, however, is continuing to emerge to harness locally, harvested, grown, and produced indigenous foods so they aren’t lost to history. Several of the foods that will be described in the following text have lost much of their originality and been mutated to ecologically redesign their botanical, aquatic, avian footprint as closely as possible.

The decline in diversity tends to lose traditional ecological and culinary knowledge which has previously connected us to our food rituals and cultural heritage.
Short of documenting these foods to museum specimens, instead safeguarding them as elements of living cultures and regional cuisines, a coalition has been formed by food enthusiasts, scientists, historians, and farmers to reverse the devastating trends and revitalize what remains of these unique foods. They are dedicated to safeguarding, documenting, and celebrating these foods to become once again a mainstay of the local diets in which these foods once thrived.
The foods in question must meet a certain criteria which includes; providing a unique gastronomic experience, they are at risk as biological entities or culinary traditions, they can be produced sustainably, and are culturally or historically linked to a region, locality, ethnicity or traditional production practice.

1. Chapalote Corn a.k.a. Chapalote, Maiz Café, Bat Cave Corn emerges from the desert soil of the southwest. Brought up north from Central America this short plant was adapted to climates above 5500 feet but abandoned sometime after Spanish colonization. Reconstructed in primitive agricultural conditions of study has allowed this sturdy plant to make a slow comeback. There is only one commercial source for Chapalote in the U.S.

2. Chilitepin Pepper a.k.a chitepin, chile tepin, chile del omonte, chillipiquin, a’al kokoli (O’odham), chiltepictl (Nahuatl), amash (Mayan) a wild ancestor of most cultivated peppers. The chiltepin grows naturally in canyons and sierras from West Texas to southern Arizona and into Mexico. The food and medicinal uses continue as they were first recorded three centuries ago by Spanish missionaries. Their decline has triggers conservation efforts to ensure their survival. www.santacruzchili.com

3. Eulachon Smelt a.k.a. Eulachon, Oolichan, Colimbia River Smelt, Salvation Fish, Oilfish, Ooligan, Candlefish known as an ancient but vanishing part of the Pacific Northwest. Use for centuries by the Native Americans these oil laden fish could be preserved and used as fuel. The commercial harvests have declined rapidly in the last 100 years due to several factors including the eruption of Mount St. Helens, marine pollution, and toxic runoff from industrial farms and cities. The conservation efforts have limited harvesting in order to rebuild and preserve the essential history and culture of the Northwest.

4. Gulf Coast Sheep a.k.a Native Sheep, Florida Native, Louisiana Native, Louisiana Scrub, Georgia Native, Pineywoods Native these sheep origin is not clear but brought to the South for their fine wool in the 1500’s. They are a hardy breed that produces great milk, meat and wool but their growth rate was slower than that of other breeds and were abandoned as a breed. Prior to WWII there were 350,000 sheep in Louisiana and fewer than 200 remain today. Conservation efforts are to take advantage of the opportunity to create a sustainable solution to sheep husbandry in the south.

5. Java Chicken a.k.a Black Java, Mottled Java and White Java considered one of the oldest breeds to contribute to the foundation of America’s poultry stock from the Far East. Despite its success it production was abandoned to near extinction as improved breeds emerged. If not for the conservation efforts of Sandhill Preservation Center and Garfield Farm and Museum this breed would be lost. Their fate currently rests in the hopes of backyard breeders.

6. Marshall Strawberry – The Forgotten Flavor- this was once the standard of excellence for the perfection of color flavor, aroma and juice in a strawberry. In the aftermath of WWII the berry farmers were debilitated by crop disease inadvertently imported from other countries. This berry is delicate requiring exacting climatic and soil conditions and was susceptible to the viruses introduced. It was phased out of production in the 60’s.

7. Native American Sunflowers a.k.a. cultivated sunflower, Hidatsa, Arikara, Mandan, Shoshoni, Zuni, Paiute, Seneca, Tewa, Girasol, Maiz de Tejas, Agagau’u (Hopi) Culivated since 3600 B.C. they’ve contributed to the oil and seed industry for millennia. The heirloom varieties exist only due to the efforts of Southwestern farmers and gardeners.

8. Pineywoods Cattle a.k.a Pineywoods, Guinea, Native, Southernwoods this hardy breed was brought over from Cuba and adapted to the humid subtropics and are excellent foragers, rich in Omega-3’s. Despite intensified efforts at conservation there are fewer than 200 registered individuals remaining.

9. Seminole Pumpkin a.k.a. chasse howitska (Creek and Miccosukee Seminole)
means “hanging pumpkin” were planted at the base of girdled trees so the vines would grow up the trunk and hang from the bare limbs. A prolific and distinctive plant it’s flesh was used for fritters or empanadas or simply baked and eaten. This heirloom pumpkin had all the potential for a revival in it’s native homeland in the Everglades should we commit to brining it back from the edge of extinction.

10. White Abalone White Abalone, Abulon Blanco this tiny marine snail is native to the Pacific coast of California but its delicious white meat has put this small mollusk in peril. The over harvesting caused the decline of their population despite they are the deepest habitat of West Coast abalones. First relished by the Gabrieleno Indians they were commercially exploited by Chinese immigrants. Fewer than one per acre remain due to illegal thefts and black market demand. The White Abalone Restoration Consortium is struggling to recover the species.

For more about the conservation efforts mentioned please explore the following websites: American Livestock Breed Conservancy- www.albc-usa.org, Center for Sustainable Environments – www.environments.nau.edu, Chef’s Collaborative – www.chefscollaborative.org, Cultural Conservancy – www.nativeland.org, Native Seeds/SEARCH- www.nativeseeds.org, Seed Savers Exchange- www.seedsavers.org, Slowfood USA- www.slowfoodusa.org