Diet Limitations of the Iroquois Essay

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Plant-Based Diet

The Iroquois were hunters, gatherers, and farmers, with a large percentage of their macronutrient needs being supplied by farm crops (Santhos et al., 2014). A recent study of the calorie needs of Tanzanian hunter-gatherers, compared to Bolivian farmers, reveal the farmers tend to consume more calories (Pontzer et al., 2012). The men and women hunter-gatherers consumed on average 2,650 and 1,900 kilocalories (kcal) per day, respectively, whereas the farmers consumed 2,850 and 2,450, respectively. As with the Iroquois, the duties of hunting and gathering were divided along gender lines, with men tasked with hunting. The daily energy needs of the Iroquois would therefore lie somewhere between hunter-gatherers and farmers. The mean value using the findings from Pontzer et al. (2012) is just under 2,500 kcal per day for both genders. To reach this value using corn alone (see Fig. 6) the Iroquois would have to consume 2.9 kg of corn. Among the five foods chosen for this project corn is the most energy dense (Fig. 6), therefore at least 6 pounds of corn, blueberries, fiddleheads, mushrooms, and winter squash would have to be consumed daily to meet their energy needs.

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It seems unlikely that the Iroquois would have been able to survive on these five foods alone.

By comparison, venison (deer meat) and wheat provide 111 and 266 kcal per 100g, respectively (CalorieLab, 2014). Only 0.94 kg of wheat bread (about 2 loaves) or 2.25 kg of venison steak would be required to meet the average estimated daily calorie needs of the Iroquois. In the absence of wheat the Iroquois would have supplemented the Three Sisters diet of corn, squash, and beans with game and fish to increase the energy density of their diet. A study examining the food diversity of historical hunter-gatherer tribes revealed that at least 50% of the diet would have consisted of game and fish meat (Cordain et al., 2000).

The most recent guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)….....

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