Macon Magazine

T AKE AN EARLY SPRING WALK near the Ocmulgee River or any of Macon's low-lying areas, and it's likely you're walking right over one of Georgia's prime foraging opportunities. To the untrained eye, their long, green leaves can be mistaken for a patch of grass. But just below the moist soil is a sweet and earthy food. It's a root vegetable that the indigenous people of this area, the Muscogee Creek and Yuchi (or Euchee), were foraging well before their forced removal to Oklahoma in the 1830s. And it's a food they continue to pick and cook today in Oklahoma: tafvmpvce, or wild onions. "I can probably pick wild onions blindfolded," said Joanna Lowe (Muscogee Creek and Seminole), 65, from Glenpool, Oklahoma. Wild onions are found anywhere the ground stays moist, like creek beds and rivers. To a less experienced forager, wild onions can look similar to grass or even wild garlic, but for Lowe, there's no mistaking it. "The leaves are a different shade of green than anything around it." And cooking wild onions is as second nature to Lowe as picking them. "Learning how to cook wild onions was like learning how to cook an egg," she said. "No one had to teach us. We've been around it forever." It's unclear whether the Muscogee Creek and Yuchi people brought these wild onions with them on their journey to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) or if these particular onions were also native to Oklahoma. But for most tribes removed from the Southeastern United States, wild onions continue to be a staple traditional food today. Long ago, the onions were likely used for seasonings and added to different dishes, but today they're mostly cooked into scrambled eggs during springtime family gatherings, community fundraisers, and a er- church dinners. For many Muscogee Creek and Yuchi people in Oklahoma, foraging onions each spring represents much more than just a way to get food. It's a tradition that connects them to their ancestors and to their pre-removal homelands here in Georgia. In an online video produced by MVSKOKE Media, Lowe is shown using scissors to clip the leaves into smaller pieces, finally tossing the bulbs into a cast iron pan. "I like to add just a little bit of grease to my onions," she says. "And not too much water, or the onions will be soggy and lose their flavor." "My grandma told me when you can see through the onions, they're ready." She pours in a bowl of scrambled eggs and stirs the onion and egg mixture until the eggs are cooked through. "You don't want to put too much eggs in it because then you're defeating your purpose," she explains. "You don't want the eggs to overcome your onions. You want to get that onion taste because that's what you wait for. Everybody waits for the onions." Another traditional dish that has evolved over the years is grape dumplings. There are differing beliefs about whether the dumplings themselves were eaten by indigenous people prior to their removal from Georgia, but the grape sauce likely was. Cooked into the dumplings and poured over them, it defines the dish's flavor. Traditionally made from Muscadine grapes native to Georgia, the grape sauce had to be made with possum grapes once the Muscogee Creek and Yuchi people were forced to Oklahoma. "I remember my grandma and aunts sending us kids out to find possum grapes for the grape dumplings," said Lowe, who grew up in Catoosa, Oklahoma. "But they're really hard to find, so nowadays we just use grape juice from the store." A well-respected cook in her community, Lowe is o en asked to cook for ceremonies and family events. And when "Aunt Joanne" cooks, everyone knows it's going to be good, it's going to be hot, and it's going to be ready all at the same time. ABOVE: JOANNA LOWE SHOWS OFF A PLATE OF HOME COOKING, INCLUDING HER FAMOUS FRY BREAD 52 maconmagazine.com | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2023

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