Food or antidepressants?

I made fry bread tonight. It's such a basic comfort food to me that sometimes I just can't resist the urge.

Fry bread isn't truly a "Native American" thing. Well, it is, but I don't think it is a pre-Columbus thing. Maybe it is. It doesn't matter to me, it's a yummy thing no matter where it came from, but here's why I say it's "post-Columbian."

Fry bread is commodities rich. It includes flour, lard, dried milk and other ingredients readily gotten from commodities distribution. Richer recipes include fresh milk and sometimes an egg but those came into the picture later. The older people of my tribe think the milk and egg are cheating though. Whole milk gives the dough lighter taste and masks the heavy lard taste and the egg helps bring on a more consistent golden brown color. I still use the old recipe grandmothers, mothers and aunts taught me with.

No fresh milk or eggs with me. It's commodities all the way!

Fry Bread goes well with boiled or baked beans and fried potatoes, both of which are nice buys at the grocery store when you're on a tight budget. It also goes well with beef stew, when you can afford the beef to make it with. Fry bread is really good when you make Indian Tacos out of it. If you're needing something for dessert, whip up a pot of wojape and serve that up with a batch of hot fry bread and everyone at the table will be singing your culinary praises.

You know what? I can't think of anything fry bread doesn't go well with. It's even good with a bowl of posole, which IS NOT a Native American dish.

At a time the country is not standing on the most stable ground and terrorism is rocking the world, sometimes fry bread is a good antidepressant.

Cheaper than Prozac anyways.