Fry Bread

By Emma Hesselsweet | November 17, 2021

The Fry Bread House in Phenix, Arizona, is a one story restaurant that specializes in fry bread. Fry bread is a fairly new native american tradition. They started making it in 1864 when Navajos were forced off their land by the American government and  forced to walk 300 miles from Arizona to New Mexico, onto land that couldn’t easily support vegetables and beans. To keep the people from starving, the government gave them canned goods as well as white flour, processed sugar, and lard, from which fry bread was invented.. The restaurant is a red adobe, with murals of native americans on two sides. There is a gravel pathway to the door, with some decorations. A driftwood lifesize model of a saguaro cactus, and a sign with lit letters. 

Inside, every table is on wheels. That is probably a safety measure for covid 19. There is a dining area towards the front, and a place to order. Next to the ordering area, there is a memorabilia shelf to the owner and founder of the restaurant. It has photos, and some little potted succulents. 

Walking to the other exit you would see the sizable bulletin board with jobs for Native Americans. I noticed that they aren’t very well paying, or fun jobs. There are two offers  for a truck driver, and not well paying either. 

Wavy tin goes halfway up the walls, and the shutters are tin as well. In the way of food, the restaurant serves fry bread, of course, with toppings such as honey, chocolate, or powdered sugar. Fry bread is circular, and about ten inches in diameter. It is basically a sopapia without honey, or a funnel cake. The restaurant also produces beef stew, vegetable stew, and chile verde. The last item served is tacos. They wrap fry bread around vegetables and beef, and it turns out to be kind of a burrito.

Native Americans did not always eat these foods. They used to eat corn, and beans, and meat that they hunted. It was all healthy, non-processed, good food. It is all because of the United States government and the pioneers, that Native Americans had to eat that unhealthy donut-like bread. But it also shows the perseverance and strength of the Native American people because they used what little they had to survive very tough times.  I give this restaurant, this food, and the fry bread tradition 2 out of 5 stars.