It was hotter than I anticipated, and I was wearing khakis with a polyester top, lugging my heavy camera and lens around.

The sun wasn’t quite setting yet, and with how dry and hot it was, dust that was kicked up from everyone walking around stuck to everything. Including me.

Then, somehow like in the movies, I saw him.

This elegant, elderly man dressed in the most beautiful white leather with liquid beading. That’s when, seemingly on cue, the drum circle started practicing.

I was covering my first pow wow in Arlee, Montana. I had only lived there maybe two weeks at this point.

Surrounding me were dozens of members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe, wearing beautiful regalia — traditional clothing.

Being nosy, I had to talk with the man with salt-and-pepper hair, glasses and a toothy, genuine smile.

“Hey. Look at you. Tell me about what you’re wearing. And who you are,” I said.

I’m not always subtle.

He was fantastic. As it turned out, I was talking with a tribal elder. He knew it was my first time at a true tribal pow wow, and he gave me a crash course on etiquette and his clothes, which were hand-sewn by women in his family.

There was a pause just long enough that I noticed something beyond the bubble I was standing in with this man.

“What’s that smell?” I asked, again without an ounce of subtlety.

“What smell?” he asked.

There weren’t any animals or ranches nearby, and he looked around at what I could mean.

“Food. I smell something delicious.”

“Oh, that,” he said. “Fry bread.”

I went over to where the food vendors were, sniffing out the doughy smell.

Sure enough, someone was making fry bread.

Think of an elephant ear – a large, flat piece of dough that’s fried and topped with cinnamon and sugar.

Fry bread is similar, but not as big, and it’s a bit dense. Toppings range from savory to sweet. My favorite was huckleberry butter.

I didn’t learn too much about fry bread itself during that pow wow, but I have done some research.

Developed sometime in the 19th century by Native Americans, fry bread was a means of survival during a mass tribe relocation from Arizona to New Mexico.

The government gave Native Americans basic ingredients to live off of, like flour and lard. That led to tribes getting creative, ultimately leading to fry bread.

During my time in Montana, fry bread and huckleberry anything were a couple of my favorite foods to which I was introduced.

Huckleberries taste like a better blueberry. Now imagine smothering a piece of fried dough with huckleberry butter.

It’s fantastic.

Unfortunately, we don’t have huckleberries in Ohio, so I’d say top your fry bread with something you’ve never tried before. Don’t be subtle.

Share your favorite recipes and memories with Features Editor Ashley Fox at afox@tribtoday.com.

Fry bread

Vegetable oil for frying

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

A pinch or two of sugar

¾ cup water (you may not use all of it)

Heat oil in a large saucepan. The oil should be deep enough to fry the flattened dough, around 1 to 2 inches.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Add a little bit of water. Use your hands as you keep mixing the dough. The dough shouldn’t be sticky. This part will take several minutes.

Section off pieces of dough about the size of an orange, and flatten each one.

Fry each dough disc, about 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

Drain them and serve warm with any topping.