Food is always on the menu as the Cherokee Nation and the Choctaw Nation celebrate their national holidays.

Whether it's kanuchi, a Cherokee hickory nut soup, or tash-labona, a Choctaw corn dish, tribal members say it's important to preserve traditional recipes. "It's a cultural thing; we don't want it to die. It's something that needs to be on top," Lorraine Blaine, who is Choctaw, told The Tulsa World.

Other favorites include Cherokee grape dumplings, Cherokee crawdads and Choctaw bread known as banaha.

Get the Story:
Traditional food lovers preparing (The Tulsa World 8/5)