The dinner
Navajo tacos and fry bread, explained
What a Navajo taco is, where frybread comes from, why it carries a complicated history, and how the dinner at the Page show lets you choose your plate.
Reserve your seat for dinner and dance ↗Quick answer
A Navajo taco is a taco built on frybread, a flat dough bread that is fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening or lard. Frybread has a complex cultural history intertwined with colonialism and the displacement of Native Americans. At Red Heritage in Page, the menu lets you choose a Navajo taco, a salad or a rice bowl, and the ticket includes dessert and a soft drink.
What frybread is
Frybread, also spelled fry bread, is a dish of the indigenous people of North America that is a flat dough bread, fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening or lard. It is made with simple ingredients, generally wheat flour, water, salt and sometimes baking powder. It can be eaten alone or with toppings such as honey, jam, powdered sugar, venison or beef. It is the base for Indian tacos and for Navajo tacos.
A complicated history
Frybread has a complex cultural history that is intertwined with colonialism and the displacement of Native Americans. The ingredients were provided to Native Americans when they were moved from areas where they could grow and forage their traditional foods to areas that would not support them. Critics see the dish as both a symbol of colonisation and a symbol of resilience. Writers and chefs disagree about it. The Page show's organiser serves Navajo tacos on homemade frybread.
Two ways of seeing it
Frybread became intertwined with Native American culture and with pride in the resilience of a people. According to Smithsonian Magazine, for many Native Americans it links generation with generation and connects the present to a painful history. Some Native American chefs reject it as a symbol of colonialism, and the chef Sean Sherman calls it perseverance and pain, ingenuity and resilience. Both views are held by Native people, so a visitor should hear the dish as one that people feel strongly about.
The dinner at Red Heritage
On the venue's menu you choose an entrée: a Navajo taco on frybread, marked as the house favourite, a salad on a crisp bed of lettuce, or a rice bowl of steamed white rice. You then choose a protein and add toppings, and the menu has a children's section. The dessert is a vanilla pudding parfait. The ticket lists three made-to-order options, a Navajo taco, a southwest salad and a rice bowl, with the parfait included.
Choosing your plate
The taco is the dish the evening highlights, and guests often mention it. The salad and the rice bowl are the entrées without frybread. The menu lists a vegan chili among its protein choices, which suits vegetarians and vegans, and the organiser's site has a guest saying the staff accommodated gluten-free needs with rice or salad instead of fry bread. For any allergy or strict diet, contact the venue before the evening, because the ticket does not confirm every dietary requirement.
What comes with the ticket
The GetYourGuide ticket includes dinner, dessert and a soft drink. A bar on site sells alcoholic drinks, and those are not included. The ticket gives the whole evening as two hours, so dinner is a part of the show, followed by the stage programme. The meal comes before the programme, so the dish and the stories belong to the same evening.
Who this isn't for
Visitors who want a long, multi-course meal will find the format simpler: one plate, one dessert and a soft drink. Guests who do not eat fried bread have two other entrées. People with severe allergies should check with the venue first. If food is the point of your trip, the dinner here is part of a performance evening, and it is not a restaurant tasting menu.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Navajo taco the same as an Indian taco?
Frybread is the base for Indian tacos, which are served in the Southwest as Navajo tacos. The name varies by region and by cook.
Can I skip the fry bread?
Yes. The menu offers a salad or a rice bowl as entrée choices.
Is dessert included?
Yes. The ticket includes a dessert, and the venue's menu lists a vanilla pudding parfait.
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