Food Traditions Groups / Support Outreach

Groups / Support The settlement of the prairie was often done in groups. The Norwegians settled communities together. The Germans from Russia settled communities together. Even American's coming from the eastern part of the country settled together in colonies, often based on religious beliefs - Lutherans with Lutherans, Catholics with Catholics. Settling in groups provided for not only communal sharing and support, but oftentimes survival. Settling together also enabled members of the group to keep their heritage and foodways alive, and to maintain their language. This tendency of settling in groups can still be seen today with the majority of the Mexican American immigrants from Texas settling in the same neighborhoods of Moorhead, MN while the Bosnian immigrants cluster in Fargo and the Sudanese immigrants congregate together in Bismarck. According to Barry Nelson at Lutheran Social Services, it is very important for immigrants to be settled together when possible in order to provide the much needed cultural support that will, in many ways, ease the transition. In the past, an immigrant family would be settled in any welcoming community with little regard to the fact that the immigrants might be the only family of that ethnic group in a town or even a region. Nelson states that now, programs are much more intentional about placing immigrants in communities where they will find others from their own background which provides some degree of familiarity and a feeling of "safety". In some communities, like Bismarck, where there aren't enough people of a single group to create an ethnic community, the diverse groups have formed an International Club where people of varying backgrounds come together to share their foods, music, dance, and other traditions.

Related Web Sites Lewis and Clark Pioneer Family Pioneer Trails Regional Museum Prairie Public The American West