Food can tell us about culture just as much as language, mythology, or rituals. This lecture offers a look at the history of the indigenous peoples of North America through their cuisine as a living system of knowledge connected to seasonality, hunting, foraging, and community memory. The focus of the discussion will be the evolution of the diet of North American peoples from ancient times to the present day. Listeners will learn how the menu of pre-Columbian hunters and gatherers was structured and how their diet was connected to the surrounding landscape. Special attention will be given to ethnobotany-the knowledge of plants that has developed over centuries and was part of medicine and culinary practices. The talk will also address the significant historical turning point and the transition to the reservation system. The destruction of traditional ways of life, changes in lifestyle, and the shift to rationed food became not only a cultural but also a bodily trauma, affecting the health of entire communities. This is because cuisine is more than just sustenance: it reflects power, violence, adaptation, and the struggle for self-preservation. In conclusion, the lecturer will discuss the current renaissance of indigenous culture. Thanks to the efforts of ethnobotanists and chefs, forgotten recipes are being revived, and traditional cuisine is gaining new resonance in the context of haute cuisine and gastro-tourism. The lecture will be conducted by Lyudmila Polonskaya-a journalist and researcher specializing in Indigenous studies.