# Why are there no Native American restaurants?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-native-american-restaurants/60829>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 4, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-native-american-restaurants/60829 "2001-04-04T21:21:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-native-american-restaurants/60829/41 "2001-04-07T04:00:51Z")

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Hmmm. Local veggies in season and whatever a hunter/gatherer can bring back.  
Doesn’t seem to lead to a consistent chain of restaurants from sea to sea.

Pigs and cows came from the old world. Before 1492 those tamales contained insects. No, I’m not kidding.

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**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-native-american-restaurants/60829/42 "2001-04-07T23:39:23Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Doug Bowe \*  
> \*\* Hmmm. Local veggies in season and whatever a hunter/gatherer can bring back.  
> Doesn’t seem to lead to a consistent chain of restaurants from sea to sea.
> 
> Pigs and cows came from the old world. Before 1492 those tamales contained insects. No, I’m not kidding. \*\*

True.  
Native to the Americas – but not all to _North_ America: beans (except favas and soy), peppers, chilies, tomatoes, avocados, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava root, pineapple, maize corn; bison, elk, deer, turkey, jutía(a kind of large rodent), chihuahua dogs.  
NOT native to the Americas: soybeans, garbanzos, yams(not the same thing as sweet potatoes), wheat, rye, barley, rice, all citrus; cows, domesticated sheep/goats, domesticated swine.

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