Bison / Buffalo

The American bison (*Bison bison*) was the foundational protein of the Great Plains Indigenous nations for at least 10,000 years — providing food (meat, organ meat, marrow, blood), shelter (hides for tipis), clothing (hides for robes and moccasins), tools (bone for awls, scrapers, needles), and fuel (dried dung — "buffalo chips" — burned for heat). The near-extermination of the bison in the 19th century (from an estimated 30-60 million animals to fewer than 1,000 by 1889) was a deliberate U.S. government policy designed to destroy the Plains nations' food supply and force them onto reservations. The bison's recovery (current population approximately 500,000, mostly in managed herds) and its return to Indigenous food systems is one of the most significant food sovereignty stories in North America. Bison meat is leaner than beef, higher in protein, lower in fat, and has a flavour that is richer, slightly sweeter, and more complex.

Bison is cooked like beef but requires adjustment for its lower fat content — it cooks faster (less fat insulates the muscle) and dries out more easily. The cuts mirror beef: ribeye, strip, tenderloin, brisket, ground, short ribs. The meat is deeply red (more myoglobin than beef), lean even in the well-marbled cuts, and has a flavour that is distinctly bison — not gamey in the venison sense, but earthier and more complex than grain-fed beef.

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