Celebrating the wild onion dinners tradition in Native America

Wild onion dinners mark the turn of the season in Native American regions in the US.

As winter fades to spring and the bright purple blossoms of the redbud trees begin to bloom, Cherokee chef Bradley James Dry knows it’s time to forage for morels as well as a staple of Native American cuisine in Oklahoma, in the United States: wild green onions.

Wild onions are among the first foods to grow at the tail end of winter in southern US, and generations of Indigenous people there have placed the alliums at the centre of an annual communal event. From February through May, there’s a wild onion dinner every Saturday somewhere in Oklahoma.