Bannock (Indigenous American food)

[1][3][4] A food made from maize, roots and tree sap may have been produced by indigenous North Americans prior to contact with outsiders.

However, the modern recipes for bannock are clearly influenced by the government rations that were distributed on Indian reserves in the late 19th century when access to country foods (plants and animals native to the region) were restricted by the arrival of non-indigenous settlers.

Such rations included the staples of the European Canadian diet at that time: wheat flour, sugar, lard, and butter; all high-calorie, low-nutrient, shelf-stable foods produced in bulk quantities and shipped long distances (together with the preservative and flavour additive, salt).

[11] Bannock's functionality made it simple to cook and consume while conducting daily activities at home, or hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering out on the land.

On these reserves, traditional methods of hunting, gathering, and farming was replaced by government food rations, usually consisting of flour and lard.