Dining Customs of the Zuni

Public domain issue of the notable weaver and potter, “We'wha.” He was a two-spirit, Zuni Native American lhamana from New Mexico. According to Wikipedia, in traditional Zuni culture, “ihamana” are “biologically male people who take on the social and ceremonial roles usually performed by women in their culture, at least some of the time. They wear a mixture of women's and men's clothing and much of their work is in the areas usually occupied by Zuni women. Some contemporary ihamana participate in the pan-Indian two-spirit community.”

Zuni Cuisine and Table Manners

The code of differential politeness in the home, as taught by the matron of the casa, is a very definite an exacting one. No matter how hunger panged a family may be, it will not dine until all be present or their absence accounted for; and as soon as one has finished eating, all desist. But it is also an unpardonable breach of etiquette if any one is so badly mannered as to stop at his eating while any other has his hunger still unsatisfied.

The Zuni cuisine is a varied one, and a dinner, as placed on the floor before a family and its guests, will sometimes number a dozen plates, almost any one of which is a puzzle to a stranger. 

Corn, chiles, meats and vegetables are the main compounding ingredients of most of the dishes, and the results are generally satisfactory, although sometimes surprising to an alien. 

The greatest delicacy in all the list, according to native judgment, is made of stuffed and roasted sheep’s intestines, with their original and half-digested contents still remaining undrawn. A yard or more of the entrails of an animal, with added bits of suet, are wound upon a spindle- like stick and toasted. The outside only is well crisped, and as the eater slowly unwinds his bologna bobbin during the course of a long dinner, he will frequently lean it before the hearth blaze or lay it upon the embers to continue its roasting. 

Corn and wheat breads are made in great variety, and the yeast for their lightness is prepared by the women, who chew samp of corn. After being thoroughly masticated, the corn is mixed with fine meal and warm water, and fermented in small ollas left standing near the fireplace, when lime- flour and some old yeast are added. The sa-ko-we, as Zuni yeast is called, is an excellent leaven, if one will but calmly strangle his remembrance of its molared milling. By its use, meal made from blue corn will be changed to green, or yellow meal to blue, during baking.- Edward Page Gaston, in Woman's Home Companion, 1898

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