Traditional Foods of the Acjachemen at Mission San Juan Capistrano

The Native American Acjachemen (Juaneño) people at Mission San Juan Capistrano relied on a diverse diet from the local environment:

• Acorns – leached and ground into flour for mush, bread, soup.
• Beans – tepary, scarlet runner, kidney; often mixed with corn/squash.
• Corn – cornmeal, bread, soup.
• Wild Grapes – fresh or dried.
• Herbs – sage, yerba santa, bay leaf for seasoning.
• Meat – deer, rabbit, birds, fish; roasted or stewed.
• Squash – zucchini, pumpkin; boiled, roasted, fried.
• Seeds – chia, amaranth for nutrition.
• Tunas (Prickly Pear) – cactus pads cooked.
• Yucca – roots roasted/boiled into bread‑like cakes.

These foods were nutritionally rich and deeply tied to cultural and spiritual practices, many persisting in descendant communities today.