1. The Lenape Food
By, Juliet Nowak, Katie Mayer, Peter
Sourbis, Muhammad Qutawna, and
Anthony Vallellanes

2. Preparation
• Many of the Lenape Boys hunted and fished for food.
• Gathered fruit and nuts.
• Added maple sugar to make the cornmeal.
• Smoked meat and fish.
• Then dried in the sun, so they wouldn’t spoil.
• Prepared animal fat for cooking.
• Bear grease was like bug spray, was used to protect skin in cold
weather, and used to make hair shiny.
• Prepared soup, bread, puddings, and sarsaparilla soda.
• They prepared corn on the cob boiled, baked, or fried in bear
grease.

3. Harvest •
•
Annual
Religious ceremony
Ceremony • 12 nights in October
• Men built “big houses,” 40 feet long 25 feet
wide
• Sacred fired at the entrance of the big
house each night
• House was decorated with 12 painted
masks which represented their gods.
• Cooked deer meat on a fire
• The tribe prayed for the hunters and were
very thankful
• They worshiped the sun and rain gods,
because if there wasn’t sun or rain the
crops would not grow

4. Fish and Meat
Fish Meat
• Fish that they caught was: • Animals were hunted for meat,
– Herring skins, sinew, and bones
– Shad • The bones were used as utensils.
– Salmon The meat was eaten. The skins were
used for the bags to hold food.
– Sturgeon
• To prevent spoilage some meat
• Harpoons made of deer antler were were smoked and dried in the sun
sometimes used to spear large fish.
• Mammals that they caught were:
• Fish eggs and roe were hard to find – Deer
so it was special when they found – elk
them once in a while. – black bear
• They used traps or long nets to – raccoon
catch other fish – beaver
• Fresh fish was usually cooked over – rabbit
a fire • Deer was a blessing to the Lenape-
• The women also wrapped the fish in it was used a lot for many other
clay and baked them in hot ashes things
• When there was plenty of fish in the
tribes, they would smoke the fish or
try to dry them in the sun.

5. Birds and Vegetables
Birds Vegetables
• Were hunted and trapped • Grew corn, beans, squash, blueberries,
tomatoes, cattail roots and peppers
• Used bows, arrows, traps,
• When the vegetables were ripe they ate
and nets them right away, the rest they stored
• They ate the bird’s eggs away for the winter.
• They caught, geese, ducks, • Pumpkin and squash were cut into
turkey, and passenger rings and put on sticks to be dried in
the sun.
pigeons
• Corn kernels and beans were kept in
• They used the feathers to skin bags to keep them from rotting.
make clothing and jewelry • When the female was ready to prepare
• Hunters killed so many the dried food, she boiled it in water
passenger pigeons they and it was soft enough to eat.
are now extinct.

6. Utensils
Utensils were very useful for the Lenape. They used things
in their area as bark plates, wooden bowls, spoons, and forks,
to help them eat. Clay pots were used to store food and keep
them fresh from spoiling, it would keep them cool. They used
animal skins as pouches to hold and keep food. These are
some of the utensils used by the Lenape to help make their
lives easier.

7. Weapons Used
• Weapons were very important to the part of the Lenape civilization. They made
tools from wood stones, bones, metals, minerals, and even their household items.
• These were very great for hunting and keeping defense.
• The lenape people used weapons as tools and they used them for hunting and
war with other Indian tribes.
• Strategies- The Lenape used strategies to help them survive in the area they lived
in and they became more and more intelligent with their own tactics.
• Lenape always used most of their strategies by learning their area and knowing
the land they live in and all the characteristics.
• They kept camouflage with the grassy and tree land they lived in to hide from the
animals and attack them while not knowing. The lenape people were very agile.
• Traps- These were very helpful to the Lenape people because they would always
make life easier for the people in catching their food and or enemies. They used
vines, rocks, wood, leaves, and even they would wait for an animal to approach
them so they can strike it and get it. These are some of the weapons, strategies,
and traps the Lenape used to help them survive.

8. Shell Fish and Lenape
• ShellfiSh were one of the lenape’S beSt food SourceS. they
would go to shores and try to gather them along the beach
line as much as they could. This was one of their main food
sources because, they would not have to hunt them like
deer. They would use nets, hooks, and even spears to catch
thiS food. they pronounced ShellfiSh “chitkëwale”. the
Lenape would go by the ocean and find the shellfish on the
shore. There are still some places in New Jersey where
people collect shellfish to eat. They would bring them
home for their families to eat just like the Lenape did.