The Society for Economic Botany awarded Gayle J. Fritz, professor emerita of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, its 2020 Mary W. Klinger Book Award for “Feeding Cahokia.”
Growing and harvesting a diverse combination of crops and wild plant foods, the women of Cahokia’s Mississippian mound-building culture used their skills and knowledge to feed the thousands of Native Americans who flocked to what was then North America’s largest city.
“Feeding Cahokia” emphasizes the importance of native crops that were domesticated by America’s first farmers long before corn became a staple food in what is now the U.S. Midwest. The book offers a roadmap for rediscovering the highly nutritious native foods once cultivated and gathered in the central Mississippi River valley.
The book award was announced during the society’s annual members’ meeting, which was held virtually in August.
Read more about “Feeding Cahokia” on The Source.