Monday, November 25, 2013

Giving thanks: Native Americans kids share heritage at Thanksgiving

Giving thanks: Native Americans kids share heritage at Thanksgiving: SIOUX CITY | Megan Thomas may like turkey on Thanksgiving but she's more excited about dunking a piece of her mom's frybread into a bowl of homemade wojapi.

Frybread -- flat dough deep fried in oil -- and wojapi -- a thick syrup made from chokecherries or blueberries -- are both traditional special occasion foods made in many Native American households.

"My mom makes the best frybread," Megan Thomas, 13, says with a smile. "That's always been my favorite Thanksgiving food."

While Megan and her sister Sierra Thomas, 12, plan to celebrate Thanksgiving in Sioux City with their family consisting of eight other brothers and sisters, Holly LaRush, 12, will be meeting up with family members at the Winnebago Reservation in Winnebago, Neb.

A Liberty Elementary School fifth-grader, Holly said her favorite Thanksgiving food is Indian tacos -- a mix of meats, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes served inside frybread.