Pemmican wasn't invented in one place. It evolved independently across multiple continents wherever humans needed portable, shelf-stable, calorie-dense food for survival. North American Plains Indians: Pemmican. Dried lean meat pounded into powder, mixed with rendered fat 1:1 ratio, sometimes dried berries added. Stored in leather pouches. Shelf-stable for years. Primary food for long-distance travel. Arctic Inuit: Variations using seal fat and dried fish or caribou. Same principle - dried protein combined with concentrated fat. Essential for winter survival and long hunting expeditions. Mongolian steppes: Borts. Dried meat strips, sometimes mixed with dried dairy products and animal fat. Carried by warriors on campaign. Similar 1:1 lean-to-fat ratio. South African Khoekhoe: Biltong mixed with rendered fat. Sustained long-distance cattle drives and hunting expeditions. Tibetan highlands: Tsampa variations with yak butter and dried meat. High-altitude endurance food. The pattern is identical across cultures separated by thousands of miles and no contact. When humans needed maximum nutrition in minimum space, they arrived at the same formula: Dried lean protein + concentrated animal fat in roughly equal ratios. Why this specific ratio? Because lean protein alone causes rabbit starvation - your liver can't process excessive protein without fat. Pure fat is calorie-dense but doesn't provide enough protein for muscle maintenance during extreme activity. The 1:1 ratio solves both problems. The North American version became famous because European fur traders adopted it and documented it extensively. They tried bringing their own rations - hardtack, salted pork, flour. All of it failed in extreme conditions. Men weakened, got scurvy, couldn't maintain the pace. Then they tried pemmican. The difference was immediate. Same men, same conditions, but now they could travel 30-40 miles daily, maintain strength, avoid scurvy. The Hudson's Bay Company made pemmican their standard long-distance ration by the 1820s. Lewis and Clark expedition 1804-1806: Flour ran out multiple times. Men weakened. They purchased pemmican from Plains tribes and expedition performance improved immediately. Clark documents this repeatedly - when they had pemmican, progress was fast and men stayed healthy. When they relied on other rations, everything deteriorated. The North Pole expeditions provide even more dramatic evidence. Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole in 1911 using pemmican as primary ration. His men arrived healthy and well-fed. Robert Scott's expedition using British rations of biscuits and tinned meat? Everyone died. The difference was pemmican. Modern analysis shows why it worked. Pemmican averages 70-75% calories from fat, 25-30% from protein. This keeps you in ketosis - burning fat for fuel instead of glucose. In ketosis, you can access stored body fat efficiently and you don't need constant eating. Arctic explorers could go 10-12 hours between meals while traveling because ketosis provides stable energy. The shelf stability is remarkable. Pemmican stored properly (dry, cool conditions) lasts 10-20 years with no refrigeration. The fat doesn't go rancid because it's saturated fat from ruminants - extremely stable. Some pemmican recovered from failed polar expeditions was still edible after 50+ years. Compare this to modern energy bars. Clif Bar: 70% carbohydrates, 12% protein, 18% fat. Requires constant re-eating as blood sugar spikes and crashes. Contains 20+ ingredients including processed sugars and seed oils that go rancid within months. Wrapped in plastic that leeches chemicals. Pemmican: 2 ingredients (meat and fat), lasts decades, provides stable energy for hours, requires no packaging beyond leather or wax paper. Fueled every major exploration and expansion in human history. The modern food industry can't monetise pemmican. It's too simple. You can make it at home for pennies per pound. It doesn't require their processing plants or chemical stabilizers or fancy packaging. So they convinced you that you need specialized sports nutrition products with 40 ingredients and scientific-sounding names. Meanwhile your ancestors crossed continents eating dried meat and fat mixed together.Pemmican wasn't invented in one place. It evolved independently across multiple continents wherever humans needed portable, shelf-stable, calorie-dense food for survival.
— Sama Hoole (@SamaHoole) January 10, 2026
North American Plains Indians: Pemmican. Dried lean meat pounded into powder, mixed with rendered fat 1:1… pic.twitter.com/b8EmX60wZD
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