Buffalo: America's original health food

Why did the buffalo cross the road? Because it was the chicken's day off. It's not much of a joke, I know, but from a nutritional standpoint it's no joke at all. That's because when it comes to a healthy diet, buffalo can replace chicken any day.

A standard serving of chicken, for example, contains 7.41 grams of fat, while the same amount of buffalo meat has only 2.42 grams, about a third as much. Moreover, whereas the serving of chicken contains 190 calories, the buffalo has only 143, about 25 percent fewer. And when it comes to beef and pork, the comparison is more lopsided still. Buffalo even outshines turkey in the nutrition department. No wonder it has been called America's original health food.

I learned about buffalo's dietary virtues recently when I traveled out west to Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota, home of one of the largest publicly held herds of buffalo in the world, to attend the annual Buffalo Roundup Chili Cookoff. There, as the song declares, buffalo roam -- and these days with abandon.

In days gone by that was not always so. It is true that at one time buffalo, the largest land mammal found in North America since the ice age, roamed across the continent in such numbers (estimated at 50 million or more) that they easily earned the nickname "thunder of the plains" when they stampeded across the prairie. They were crucial to Native Americans who used virtually every part of the animal for their sustenance, even the hump. (Buffalo hump soup would later be regarded as a delicacy by Missouri's own Susan Magoffin, who tasted it while traveling the Santa Fe Trail in the mid-19th century and pronounced it "superior to any soup served in the ‘best' hotels of New York.")

But by the end of the 19th century the buffalo population, thanks to government sanctioned slaughtering, had dwindled to less than a thousand and the animal faced extinction. Only through the efforts of William Hornaday of the Bronx Zoo and his associates was the species saved, and today the number of buffalo is more than sufficient to ensure its survival.

A steaming vat of Buffalo Chili awaits judgement at the annual Buffalo Roundup Chili Cookoff in Custer, South Dakota. (TOM HARTE)

All of which has led to two ironies: first, just miles from where the last buffalo was slain in the Black Hills, the roundup I attended routinely draws thousands of spectators eager to pay homage to the majestic beast almost wiped out by their forebears. And second, buffalo, a food as old as the plains themselves, has only recently again become a part of the American diet.

If buffalo is not yet part of your diet, give it a try. You'll discover, as I did at the Roundup, that it's not only healthy, but, especially in a bowl of chili, tastes, as buffalo ranchers want to say, "like beef wished it tasted."

Meriwether's Buffalo Chili

Eating terrific buffalo chili does not require a trip out west. Nor does finding quality buffalo meat. There are nearly 50 bison ranches right here in Missouri.

So this recipe, adapted from Stephanie Anderson's book, "Killer Chili," is well within your purview. It was the specialty of Meriwether's, formerly the restaurant at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis.

Tom Harte stands poised to sample the variety of buffalo chili concoctions available at the annual Buffalo Roundup Chili Cookoff in Custer, S.D. (TOM HARTE)

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup diced onions

1/2 roasted poblano chili, seeded and diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 1/4 pound ground bison

4 tablespoons chili powder

1/2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes

4 (16-ounce) cans kidney beans

4 (16-ounce) cans black beans

3/4 cup tomato juice

Saute in olive oil over medium heat the onions, poblanos, celery, bell pepper and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add bison meat and cook until browned.

Mix together chili powder, cumin and cayenne, and add to meat and vegetable mixture. Add tomatoes, beans and tomato juice. Simmer 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serves 10.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs at 8:49 a.m. Fridays on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702-0699.