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Traveling & Eating: Arizona Navajo Nation, Canyon de Chelly

August 28, 2015 by Emily Brees Leave a Comment - This post may contain affiliate links.

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Traveling + Eating Arizona - hiking and cultural adventures in the Navajo Nation including Canyon de Chelly + Hands on fry bread! | ARIZONA | NAVAJO | WINDOW ROCK | CANYON DE CHELLY | FRY BREAD | Recipe at OatandSesame.com

Canyon de Chelly, Arizona

Traveling + Eating Arizona - hiking and cultural adventures in the Navajo Nation including Canyon de Chelly + Hands on fry bread! | ARIZONA | NAVAJO | WINDOW ROCK | CANYON DE CHELLY | FRY BREAD | Recipe at OatandSesame.com

Hiking on Navajo land

Earlier this month I had the unique opportunity to travel to northeast Arizona to visit the Navajo Nation. I work for a university that offers service trips to students and our job was to provide feedback for this newly designed trip. Six of us loaded up in an Expedition and headed north from Phoenix to explore my favorite state. It was good to be back in AZ.

Even though I lived in southern Arizona for six years, I never made it to the northeast corner. Ryan, the director of the service trips and our leader, spent 6 years teaching Navajo children at the Catholic school on the reservation. He is very much a part of the community and is considered family to those that we spent time with.

Traveling + Eating Arizona - hiking and cultural adventures in the Navajo Nation including Canyon de Chelly + Hands on fry bread! | ARIZONA | NAVAJO | WINDOW ROCK | CANYON DE CHELLY | FRY BREAD | Recipe at OatandSesame.com

Cooking out at summer camp

Ryan’s Navajo family land is 11,000 acres of pure wilderness and they took us hiking on unmarked trails through gorgeous landscapes. Wild horses, prairie dogs, deer – no cell service, no running water, no electricity. I appreciated the simplicity of genuine conversation and relaxation. It was clear that the older generations were concerned that the young ones had lost their connection to the land. In my conversations with the grandfather, he said that all the young folk want to be in town – with TV, cell phones, internet – a cultural shift that’s hard to understand. Preserving their language and traditions is very important to them.

wild horses

Wild Horses – photo courtesy of Adam Pratt

prairie dog

hello

The evening we arrived a monsoon came through and we were unable to join the family for a special “coming of age” ceremony that was taking place. This ceremony includes traditional cake called alkaan – a cake made with white corn meal, germinated wheat, brown sugar, raisins, and boiling water. The cake bakes in a 3′ wide pit in the ground that has been warmed with hot ashes.  It’s lined with corn husks and the mixture is placed in before sunset. It’s covered and baked into a massive cake that is said to represent the sun.

While we missed the ceremony and cake mixing, they made sure to bring us a massive chunk to taste at our cookout.

Alkaan bread

Alkaan

Another food that is commonly associated with the Navajo is frybread. It’s undeniably delicious; however, it represents a painful historical narrative – the “Long Walk.” According to the Smithsonian, fry bread represents both “perseverance and pain.” The 300-mile “Long Walk”  of 1864, which forced the Navajo off their land and into New Mexico, left the Navajo without soil that could support traditional staples of beans and rice. The U.S. government gave them white flour, sugar and lard—which are the ingredients in frybread. It prevented starvation at their military deportation camp at Fort Sumner.

A stop at the Navajo history museum in Window Rock (the capital of the Nation) revealed that they were also given rations of raw bacon and coffee beans. Without knowledge of how to prepare either, many perished eating the raw bacon and coffee beans.

woman making fry bread

making the frybread

fry bread

grilling the frybread

Print
Frybread
Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
5 mins
Total Time
35 mins
 
an easy flatbread that can be topped with taco fixings or turned into a sweet treat
Course: Appetizer, Bread
Cuisine: native american
Keyword: fry bread
Servings: 2
Calories: 350 kcal
Author: Emily Brees | OatandSesame
Ingredients
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup hot water
  • Oil for deep-fat frying Healthy Option: Grill the fry bread instead of deep frying
  • Taco toppings or Cinnamon/Sugar/honey toppings
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
  2. Stir in hot water to form a soft dough. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
  3. Divide dough into equal pieces.
  4. Roll or press the dough out on a lightly floured surface. (traditional fry bread dough has a hole poked in the middle for even baking)
  5. Fry or grill each side until golden brown and puffy - 2-3 minutes per side.
  6. Top with sweet or savory or just eat it plain!
  7. Just eat it while it's hot!
Nutrition Facts
Frybread
Amount Per Serving (1 g)
Calories 350
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Another stop in Window Rock was the Navajo Veteran’s Memorial Navajo Tribal Park. In front of the Window Rock formation is a statue dedicated to the Navajo Code Talkers. During WWII, Navajo soldiers made a large contribution through their language. Using the uniqueness of their language, they were able to communicate messages in an unbreakable code.

Code Talker StatueLeaving the Navajo lands we were graced with a double rainbow. Earlier in the day, on our tour of the government offices, we learned that the rainbow is represented on the Navajo flag – symbolizing sovereignty.  It was a fitting farewell as we made our way off tribal lands towards Sedona.

rainbow

photo courtesy of Elisa Cosner

tribal flag

Canyon de Chelly AZ
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I'm Emily - a home cook, gardener and recipe creator located in Flagstaff, AZ.

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