美国国家公共电台 NPR To Get Calcium, Navajos Burn Juniper Branches To Eat The Ash

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So getting calcium¹ in your diet is essential to keeping your bones strong. Well, what do you do if you can't do dairy? A Navajo graduate student at Northern Arizona University got really interested in that question when he came across an old study suggesting that Navajo women are less likely to break their hips² than women of European heritage. He found this surprising because most American Indians are lactose intolerant. And so he set out to find where the Navajo get their calcium. Laurel Morales of member station KJZZ reports from Flagstaff.

LAUREL MORALES, BYLINE³: From the time he was a child, Daniel Begay was told that traditional Navajo foods were good for him.

DANIEL BEGAY: A lot of these practices are just done because they're just passed down. When I asked my wife and also my grandma this, a lot of them say, you know, that's just something we - you were just told to do it.

MORALES: But Begay wanted proof. And he eventually found it. It turns out a small study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association says one ingredient in traditional Navajo food, juniper ash, is a great source of calcium. The Navajo burn juniper branches, collect the ash and stir it into various dishes. It started out as part of a ceremony, and now it's added to many traditional foods.

Begay wanted to do a more comprehensive study. So he analyzed⁴ the amount of calcium in 27 samples of juniper from all over the Navajo Nation, an area the size of West Virginia. First, he decided⁵ to burn juniper outside his apartment in Flagstaff.

BEGAY: I let my landlord know beforehand - say, hey, I'm going to be building a fire outside in our yard just so you know. I burned a picnic table a little bit.

MORALES: Begay discovered that one gram of ash has the same amount of calcium as a glass of milk. And that is good for Navajo bones. Lillie Pete teaches young people about the benefits of traditional Navajo food. I recently visited her home on the Navajo Nation in the tiny town of Jeddito to learn how to make one of the most popular foods that includes juniper ash, blue corn mush.

(SOUNDBITE OF POURING WATER)

LILLIE PETE: OK. There's the five cups of water. And we're going to let that heat up until it's boiling.

MORALES: Pete says, before the white man came, the Navajo subsisted⁶ on beans, corn, squash and mutton.

PETE: Our body wasn't built to, you know, consume the kind of food that came with the Anglo. And now we have so many health problems with our people, you know?

MORALES: One in three Navajo people suffers from diabetes⁷, according to the Indian Health Service. And obesity⁸ rates are three times the national average. Pete says many Navajo forgot the traditional ways when they were forced to go to government-run boarding schools.

PETE: OK. What I usually do is take some of this hot, boiling water. And I'll pour it onto the ash.

(SOUNDBITE OF POURING WATER)

MORALES: Then she mixes in the corn meal and stirs. Finally, the corn mash⁹ produces thick, volcanic¹⁰ bubbles, telling us it's ready.

PETE: (Foreign language spoken).

MORALES: Pete gives thanks to Mother Earth for the corn.

PETE: (Foreign language spoken).

MORALES: She suggests adding either salt or sugar. Then we eat.

That's good. It reminds me of cream of wheat. Really good. Do you think you can taste the ash? Do you notice it? I don't.

PETE: I don't even taste it at all.

MORALES: For NPR News, I'm Laurel Morales in Jeddito on the Navajo Nation.

(SOUNDBITE OF WHALE FALL'S "OLD COUNTY")

1 calcium   

n.钙(化学符号Ca)

参考例句：

• We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
• Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。

2 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 subsisted   

v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Before liberation he subsisted on wild potatoes. 解放前他靠吃野薯度日。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Survivors of the air crash subsisted on wild fruits. 空难事件的幸存者以野果维持生命。 来自辞典例句

7 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

8 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

9 mash   

n.麦芽浆，糊状物，土豆泥；v.把…捣成糊状，挑逗，调情

参考例句：

• He beat the potato into a mash before eating it.他把马铃薯捣烂后再吃。
• Whiskey,originating in Scotland,is distilled from a mash of grains.威士忌源于苏格兰，是从一种大麦芽提纯出来的。

10 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。