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Spring Is Wild Onion Time in Oklahoma

From February until April, gathering wild onions is big event for many members of Five Civilized tribes in Oklahoma. Wild onion dinners are the fruits of their labor. The dinners are traditionally held in homes, community centers and churches. Wild onions are sometimes prepared with scrambled eggs (although not always) and poke sallet.

Some dinners have been served in the same place for nearly a century-like Haikey Chapel in Tulsa. On a recent Saturday, there was a line about a hundred deep waiting to eat wild onions with scrambled eggs, salt pork, beans, corn, fry bread and grape dumplings. Some have attended this dinner since they were kids, others were in line for the first time. Many said it was the cooking that kept them coming back.

Credit Allison Herrera
Wild onion dinner served at Haikey Chapel in Tulsa.

Haikey Chapel has a long history in the community and many descendants of the original family attend church here-one was even doing the cooking on Saturday-Sunrise Tiger Ross. As she sauteed onions alongside her sister and cousin in a tent near the church she said, "Hopefully our grandmothers are happy with what we're serving today."

Below, watch a short film from MvskokeMedia documenting Muscogee (Creek) woman Jamie Rolland and her mother Joanne Lowe picking, cleaning, and cooking tafvmpvce (wild onions) as a custom and family tradition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8HkEFQIOxA

Listen below for more about Haikey Chapel and wild onion dinners:

Invisible Nations is brought to you by KOSU and Finding America, a national initiative produced by AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio Incorporated, and with financial support from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, the Wyncote Foundation, the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Allison Herrera covered Indigenous Affairs for KOSU from April 2020 to November 2023.
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