I didn’t exactly grow up eating fry bread, but my kids did. Our family in Montana had a fry bread/Indian Taco stand during Little Big Horn Days from the time my kids were born. They never knew a time before fry bread. Our fry bread was round, with a sliced hole in the middle, and we sold over a thousand over a 7 day week during the summer in Montana. All the kids–nieces, nephews, my kids, extended family kids–manned the front of the stand and were the “face” of the taco stand. All of us old people–moms, dads, aunties, uncles–manned the back end chopping lettuce, onions, tomatoes, making bread dough, chili, and doing all the food prep. Kids did the kneading, because they were stronger. It was a wonderful family affair, and after a week we probably had seen enough of each for another year.

Now I live in New Mexico, land of Navajo fry bread. It’s almost the state bread–maybe it is and I just don’t know it yet. The Koyama Indian Taco stand byline was “Where East Meets West.” I feel the spirit of the cultural crossroads that my hometown, Santa Fe, exudes.

So it isn’t surprising that Reverend Patti Nakai’s story, The Buddha Sends Fry Bread, caught my eye and heart. Patti built upon the story Fry Bread by Lily Yuriko Nakai Havey from the Literature of Japanese American Incarceration edited by Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung. She incorporates how Buddhism influences the Japanese, then and now. During the incarceration of Japanese in America, native ladies boarded the trainloads of Japanese and offered the hungry and scared men, women and children–who were going to unknown incarceration camps–fry bread–sustenance–on a random stop in the Southwest Desert.

No matter how you might explain the unexplainable, this story will bring a tear to your eye, and make your heart swell. If any group knows what it is like to be treated unfairly by people in charge, it is the Native American. And the whole issue of being “relocated” can be defined by how Natives were driven to reservations back in the day. If you have ever been hungry (and let’s be truthful: most of us have never missed a meal) and been offered food from strangers, you will know how thankful you can be for a generous gift of food.

I liked this story so much I bought the book the source story came from. You can read our Patti Nakai’s story in Windows of Lights. Click here to order.