Potatoes, tomatoes, cocoa, beans, pumpkins, corn - everyone knows these products, they come to our tables every day. But have you ever wondered where they come from? Hardly anyone knows that it was the Indians, living in North and South America, who first learned how to grow these plants and passed this knowledge on to the Europeans.
The Indians, associated to the average man with a half-naked warrior on a mustang, dressed in a beautiful eagle feather plume, with a warlike cry on his mouth, were in fact a very culturally diverse people. They lived and still live in all the climatic zones of the Americas; in the old days they were both hunter-gatherer nomadic peoples as well as settled agricultural peoples at a slightly higher cultural and economic level.
Potatoes
Can you imagine our menu without potatoes? It seems as if they have always been on our tables. Meanwhile, they did not appear in Europe until the 16th century, when the Incas, Aztec and other tribes were conquered by Spanish conquistadors. In the wild, potatoes grow in Mexico, Central America and the Andes. There were two Indian districts where this crop was grown: the first was in the highlands, agriculturally poor Andean valley in Bolivia and Peru. The second was located on the island of Chiloe in Chile, where a warm climate and fertile soils dominated. For the local Indians, it was the basis of their diet. It was from there that it was brought to Europe, it gradually spread and gained in importance.
Tomato
The tomato comes from the same areas as the potato. It was grown in Mexico by the Aztecs. Wild forms were found in the lower parts of the Andes. After the conquest of the Aztec Empire, tomatoes came to Spain in the early 16th century. They were called Tomate, slightly distorting the Aztec word Tomati meaning 'plump fruit'.
Cocoa
The world's best-known and most appreciated delicacy is chocolate. It is made from cocoa fruit, a small tree growing in the equatorial climate of Central America. The Maya Yucatán were the first people to learn about the beneficial properties of cocoa, who made a bitter, frothing chocolate drink called Tcacahoua. In the 13th century, the Aztecs took over the custom of drinking chocolate, adding honey, hot pepper or corn flour. Both Maya and Aztecs highly valued cocoa beans, believed that they came from God, were an attribute of health, strength and wealth.
Corn, beans and pumpkin
Maize, beans and pumpkins were grown by Indians living in the eastern zone of the North American forests, the Iroquois and Algonite tribes, as well as communities settled in the Missouri river valley: the Mandanos, Hidats, Arikars and Paunis. After sowing, these plants grew all together - the beans climbed up the maize stalks and the pumpkin grew by the ground drowning out the weeds. They were very important for the people who grew them, the Iroquois called them the Three Sisters, they played an important role in ritual life and were the basis of nutrition. The consumption of meat was of limited importance.
Tobacco
Tobacco was also cultivated by Indians before Europeans arrived in America. Christopher Columbus came across smoking by Indians in corn leaves, and Spanish conquistadors stumbled upon the extensive cultivation of this plant in Panama and Peru. The Indians smoked, chewed and used the tobacco for ceremonial purposes. In the Crow tribe living in the Great Plains of North America, there was a special elite Tobacco Association, whose members sowed and harvested holy tobacco every year.
Interestingly, this tobacco was not smoked, but only stored. The Crow Indians believed that the continued cultivation of this plant would ensure the survival of the entire tribe. However, they prayed in various ways, among others, by smoking the so-called Holy Pipe (which Europeans know as the Peace Pipe), in which no tobacco was smoked, but the so-called Kinnikinnick, which was a mixture of shredded tree bark and various herbs. Contemporary Indians joke that tobacco offered to white people is their revenge for the seized tribal land. The Indians still regard tobacco as a sacred plant.
Manioc, pineapples, peanuts, cotton are plants growing in America and well known to the Indians. But it is not only the plants we owe to these peoples. The names of such items as moccasins (leather shoes, leather leggings or fabric legs), canoes and canoes (light boats made of birch bark and wood), hammocks for sleeping or punch. They have settled in for good, testifying to the incredibly colorful and diverse culture of the Native Americans.
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Sheetal’s father’s business was thriving, her sister announced her second pregnancy, her brother was going to an Ivy League school to do his MBA, his visa had come through.
For someone outside it appeared all was perfect in the Kapoor household, however that was not the case.
Everybody in the house was stressing out as Sheetal was going to turn 32 years old and was still single and there was no sight of prospect partner in sight.Sheetal’s sister, a doctor, 5 years older than her got married at 27.
Sheetal’s sister founder her life partner on an Indian online dating service and had to go through a lot of opposition from her family as the man she chose was not from the same caste and her family was very particular about that.
Despite opposition Sheetal’s sister got married to the man of her choice and today they were expecting their second child.
Not only this the family had accepted the Sheetal’s sister’s husband and family but they had still not warmed on the fact that the couple met online.
