Man shall not live on bread alone . . .
. . . , but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
and Navajo Frybread!
In this post, I'm going to share about Navajo Frybread, and all thing food-related.
But first, let's talk about the bread of life.
- - -
So, we begin our sunday by attending service in that hogan-shaped church.
The inside of this building is a well maintained church with plenty of pews, and a spacious altar/podium.
As we walked in we were greeted by contemporary worship music playing on speaker connected to a phone. The pastor heard people walked in (we came a tad early) then came out from the kitchen/meeting area to greet us. His wife followed soon after.
Not long after, members of the congregation began to flock the sanctuary and we begun our service.
Worship was sang in English, a-capella . . .
That surprised me a little, since the year before in Shiprock, we had a full band with iPads instead of music sheets and lyrics projected on screen, That church wasn't even this "fancy."
Here in Tuba City, we have hymnal books. Nothing new to me, it's definitely a nostalgic experience. But I only knew one of the song and without any music to sing to, my only reference was a couple from the midwest visiting from one of the church's affiliated churches who sang the hymns beautifully. Sure enough, we couldn't do much more than humming and after many failed attempt, our team's best effort was . . . lipsync haha. So much for "making a joyful noise!"
And now let's talk about food!
Food!
Yeah, this is the best part of this post, but not so fast . . .
The church's members usually stay after church to hang and sometimes share some potluck or have a little brunch together with donuts, coffee and such. But that day, they're making Navajo Frybread.
Low and behold, fresh hand-made Frybread.
And it takes time.
As they prepare for all the frybread making, we unload our camp supplies to one of the "dorm" that serves as our storage. Some of the kids and teens play soccer on the outdoor volleyball dirt court. I joined them for a bit . . . and got sunburned . . .
We also use that time to get to know our new friends.
I sat next to a retired man who looks a lot younger than he actually is. He then shared his story when he first served in the Marine. At the boot camp, the instructors told him to stand for hours in the heat, in high elevation with thin oxygen level. Then he chuckled "well, that's no big deal at all, I'm used to all that right here. And then they made us jump into freezing water, guess what, we also have that here!" he said with a big grin. I learned that after completing his duty he got a college degree and then worked at a power station near Lake Powell area, not far north from Tuba City. Now retired, he decided to go back to his hometown.
As he was telling me his story, the ladies called all of us out. They invite us to learn how to make Navajo Frybread. It was such a nice gesture, I think we might've slowed them down instead of helping, but it shows how welcoming they are to us, and their openness in sharing their culture.
The whole process is pretty similar to leavening a pizza crust. Start off with a ball of dough that's been left sitting to raise for a while. Then it's "flattened" by hand (all done by hand, no rolling pin or cutting board involved), then fried in oil. I've been told it's traditionally fried in animal lard. We used cooking oil, as pictured.
Then it's time to eat. Boy, that's totally worth the wait and effort.
The best tasting Frybread I've ever had. (by the time I'm writing this, I've probably eaten Navajo Frybread 5-6 times—and I'm actually salivating as I'm typing this).
Navajo Frybread is basically a round-shaped fried dough made from flour, raised with yeast and fried in animal lard. Light and airy, crispy and crusty on the outside, and chewy and soft in the inside. Yumm!!
As far as taste, it's closest resemblace would be a chinese cruller (you-tiao). Or donut shop's cruller without the sweet glaze. If you have no idea of any of those, then maybe a Chalupa at Taco Bell would give you an idea. Speaking of which has the closest resemblace on the outside texture, but not the inside. Or let's say it's a distance cousin of funnel cake, just a thousand times better (at least the one I had in Tuba City).
The closest thing I can get to Navajo Frybread around Orange County is yeast donuts at Oliboli in Tustin, without any of the sweetening agent. They actually have a thing called "Frybread" on their menu, although it doesn't really resemble the a Navajo Frybread. Whilst it's close in texture and taste, Navajo Frybread is more of the size,shape and "way of eating" of a tortilla.
It tends to be plain in taste, absorb much of it's flavor from the oil used to fry and commonly eaten as a base for Navajo Taco (spiced ground meat, beans, pico, lettuce, salsa and sour cream), or Navajo Burger (it replaces the bun, fold in half, beef patty and all the fixing goes inside). As a main dish, it's versatile enough it can be eaten with any stew or anything else just the way a pita bread or naan or tortilla is.
Of course . . . it can also be eaten as dessert. A common way for the locals is to pour honey on top of it, and then sprinkle some cinnamon. However, these days many treated frybread as dessert the way a crepe is. Throw in ice cream, fudge, brownie, whip cream, fruits, you name it.
Later on in 2018, while watching Native American dances in downtown Gallup, I found out that many locals also eat Frybread as snack. Plain and simple, just frybread, torn off piece by piece just like eating popcorn or chips.
Other than frybread, I managed to try blue-corn pancake for breakfast on one of the day we were there. It's a pancake as we know it, except that it's very dense and filling, close to the texture of a banana bread, except more dense. Very stuffing, I managed to finish only 1/3 of it. Another famous Navajo dish that I haven't get a chance to try yet is mutton stew. Hope I'll get to try that sometimes.
- - -
During camp, we had same lunch with the kids, provided by a local government agency, same agency that supplies lunches to schools. Everyday, they'll come with a truck at a predetermined time and bring lunches for us and the kids. Pretty typical school cafetaria lunches, PB&J sandwich, chili nachos, and the likes. Of course, fresh fruit/vegetables and milk are a must, as these lunches has to meet certain (health department?) standard of certain serving of fruits and some other standards as well.
We stayed together as a team for Breakfast and Dinner. In consideration of the restaurants, and for efficiency we usually split ourself into smaller groups of 4 or so.
In most trips, we usually have breakfast at the hotel as it's mostly included with the room. While in Tuba City, the only place we could stay within reasonable commute was Cameron, and at that hotel breakfast wasn't included. We ended up eating breakfast there for a couple days, and the rest of the week we ate at the restaurant in Tuba City (the hogan-shaped restaurant). Nothing fancy, but they have typical breakfast items such as omlette, skillet, pancakes, as well as a few local offerings.
Between Cameron-Tuba City-Moenkopi, we didn't have much choice so Dinners were a little different than when we stayed in Farmington the year before. We pretty much split time between Denny's in Moenkopi, and our hotel's restaurant in Cameron.
While traveling to/from our base camps, each car has their own liberty deciding where to eat and when to stop.
All of our spending from the moment we walked out the door until we get back home are covered as trip expenses. From gas, snacks, meals, to some supplies (within reasons) — with the exception of souvenirs and traffic ticket.
It's a mean to eliminate distractions, so we can focus on doing the mission work and tasks we have in-hand and not worry about expenses or figuring out where to eat, and so on. Sometimes it presents a challenge in itself as some people get shy and reserved, while others might decide to splurge and went overboard. I personally treat it as if I'm paying for myself, it's just easier and less distracting for me that way.
I'd say best practice is to understand the big picture. In one hand, over-indulging on foods can be more harmful than good. At the same time it's totally fine to eat more than usual, or spend more than we normally do. We do more physical activities than usual, on the road traveling and on top of that our bodies are battling unusual weather and environment.
After all, this is what the bible commanded us to do . . .
. . . to have joy, to eat, drink and be merry while we do our labor which God gives us under the (Arizona's) sun.
So, that's what we (literally) do!
and Navajo Frybread!
In this post, I'm going to share about Navajo Frybread, and all thing food-related.
But first, let's talk about the bread of life.
- - -
So, we begin our sunday by attending service in that hogan-shaped church.
The inside of this building is a well maintained church with plenty of pews, and a spacious altar/podium.
As we walked in we were greeted by contemporary worship music playing on speaker connected to a phone. The pastor heard people walked in (we came a tad early) then came out from the kitchen/meeting area to greet us. His wife followed soon after.
Not long after, members of the congregation began to flock the sanctuary and we begun our service.
Worship was sang in English, a-capella . . .
That surprised me a little, since the year before in Shiprock, we had a full band with iPads instead of music sheets and lyrics projected on screen, That church wasn't even this "fancy."
Here in Tuba City, we have hymnal books. Nothing new to me, it's definitely a nostalgic experience. But I only knew one of the song and without any music to sing to, my only reference was a couple from the midwest visiting from one of the church's affiliated churches who sang the hymns beautifully. Sure enough, we couldn't do much more than humming and after many failed attempt, our team's best effort was . . . lipsync haha. So much for "making a joyful noise!"
And now let's talk about food!
Food!
Yeah, this is the best part of this post, but not so fast . . .
The church's members usually stay after church to hang and sometimes share some potluck or have a little brunch together with donuts, coffee and such. But that day, they're making Navajo Frybread.
Low and behold, fresh hand-made Frybread.
And it takes time.
As they prepare for all the frybread making, we unload our camp supplies to one of the "dorm" that serves as our storage. Some of the kids and teens play soccer on the outdoor volleyball dirt court. I joined them for a bit . . . and got sunburned . . .
We also use that time to get to know our new friends.
I sat next to a retired man who looks a lot younger than he actually is. He then shared his story when he first served in the Marine. At the boot camp, the instructors told him to stand for hours in the heat, in high elevation with thin oxygen level. Then he chuckled "well, that's no big deal at all, I'm used to all that right here. And then they made us jump into freezing water, guess what, we also have that here!" he said with a big grin. I learned that after completing his duty he got a college degree and then worked at a power station near Lake Powell area, not far north from Tuba City. Now retired, he decided to go back to his hometown.
As he was telling me his story, the ladies called all of us out. They invite us to learn how to make Navajo Frybread. It was such a nice gesture, I think we might've slowed them down instead of helping, but it shows how welcoming they are to us, and their openness in sharing their culture.
 |
Making Navajo Frybread
The ball of dough on the left, the flattening process on the right, and frying part in the back-middle.
|
The whole process is pretty similar to leavening a pizza crust. Start off with a ball of dough that's been left sitting to raise for a while. Then it's "flattened" by hand (all done by hand, no rolling pin or cutting board involved), then fried in oil. I've been told it's traditionally fried in animal lard. We used cooking oil, as pictured.
 |
The hardest part of making Navajo Frybread
She wasn't too impressed, hahaha
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 |
The end result
Good enough principle . . .
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 |
The way it supposed to be
Note her left hand, she's holding another ready-to-fry dough. That's how they do it, throw a dough in with left hand, fry with right hand while using left hand to pick up another dough. These frybread fried up really quick.
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Then it's time to eat. Boy, that's totally worth the wait and effort.
The best tasting Frybread I've ever had. (by the time I'm writing this, I've probably eaten Navajo Frybread 5-6 times—and I'm actually salivating as I'm typing this).
Navajo Frybread is basically a round-shaped fried dough made from flour, raised with yeast and fried in animal lard. Light and airy, crispy and crusty on the outside, and chewy and soft in the inside. Yumm!!
As far as taste, it's closest resemblace would be a chinese cruller (you-tiao). Or donut shop's cruller without the sweet glaze. If you have no idea of any of those, then maybe a Chalupa at Taco Bell would give you an idea. Speaking of which has the closest resemblace on the outside texture, but not the inside. Or let's say it's a distance cousin of funnel cake, just a thousand times better (at least the one I had in Tuba City).
The closest thing I can get to Navajo Frybread around Orange County is yeast donuts at Oliboli in Tustin, without any of the sweetening agent. They actually have a thing called "Frybread" on their menu, although it doesn't really resemble the a Navajo Frybread. Whilst it's close in texture and taste, Navajo Frybread is more of the size,shape and "way of eating" of a tortilla.
It tends to be plain in taste, absorb much of it's flavor from the oil used to fry and commonly eaten as a base for Navajo Taco (spiced ground meat, beans, pico, lettuce, salsa and sour cream), or Navajo Burger (it replaces the bun, fold in half, beef patty and all the fixing goes inside). As a main dish, it's versatile enough it can be eaten with any stew or anything else just the way a pita bread or naan or tortilla is.
Of course . . . it can also be eaten as dessert. A common way for the locals is to pour honey on top of it, and then sprinkle some cinnamon. However, these days many treated frybread as dessert the way a crepe is. Throw in ice cream, fudge, brownie, whip cream, fruits, you name it.
Later on in 2018, while watching Native American dances in downtown Gallup, I found out that many locals also eat Frybread as snack. Plain and simple, just frybread, torn off piece by piece just like eating popcorn or chips.
Other than frybread, I managed to try blue-corn pancake for breakfast on one of the day we were there. It's a pancake as we know it, except that it's very dense and filling, close to the texture of a banana bread, except more dense. Very stuffing, I managed to finish only 1/3 of it. Another famous Navajo dish that I haven't get a chance to try yet is mutton stew. Hope I'll get to try that sometimes.
- - -
During camp, we had same lunch with the kids, provided by a local government agency, same agency that supplies lunches to schools. Everyday, they'll come with a truck at a predetermined time and bring lunches for us and the kids. Pretty typical school cafetaria lunches, PB&J sandwich, chili nachos, and the likes. Of course, fresh fruit/vegetables and milk are a must, as these lunches has to meet certain (health department?) standard of certain serving of fruits and some other standards as well.
 |
Our Lunch Lady and her assistants bringing our lunch
|
 |
Lunch with the kids
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- - -
We stayed together as a team for Breakfast and Dinner. In consideration of the restaurants, and for efficiency we usually split ourself into smaller groups of 4 or so.
In most trips, we usually have breakfast at the hotel as it's mostly included with the room. While in Tuba City, the only place we could stay within reasonable commute was Cameron, and at that hotel breakfast wasn't included. We ended up eating breakfast there for a couple days, and the rest of the week we ate at the restaurant in Tuba City (the hogan-shaped restaurant). Nothing fancy, but they have typical breakfast items such as omlette, skillet, pancakes, as well as a few local offerings.
Between Cameron-Tuba City-Moenkopi, we didn't have much choice so Dinners were a little different than when we stayed in Farmington the year before. We pretty much split time between Denny's in Moenkopi, and our hotel's restaurant in Cameron.
While traveling to/from our base camps, each car has their own liberty deciding where to eat and when to stop.
All of our spending from the moment we walked out the door until we get back home are covered as trip expenses. From gas, snacks, meals, to some supplies (within reasons) — with the exception of souvenirs and traffic ticket.
It's a mean to eliminate distractions, so we can focus on doing the mission work and tasks we have in-hand and not worry about expenses or figuring out where to eat, and so on. Sometimes it presents a challenge in itself as some people get shy and reserved, while others might decide to splurge and went overboard. I personally treat it as if I'm paying for myself, it's just easier and less distracting for me that way.
I'd say best practice is to understand the big picture. In one hand, over-indulging on foods can be more harmful than good. At the same time it's totally fine to eat more than usual, or spend more than we normally do. We do more physical activities than usual, on the road traveling and on top of that our bodies are battling unusual weather and environment.
After all, this is what the bible commanded us to do . . .
So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 (NKJV)
. . . to have joy, to eat, drink and be merry while we do our labor which God gives us under the (Arizona's) sun.
So, that's what we (literally) do!
