Food Studies

Indigenous food systems are based on harvesting wild plants for food and medicine, employing sophisticated agricultural practices, and on preserving seed diversity. Indigenous Peoples use all parts of the animals and plants with respect, viewing humans and the environment as interconnected and rooted in reciprocal relationships. We care for the plants and animals, and they care for us. Nothing is wasted.

Sustainable Food Practices:

• Video: Seasonal Round
• Video: Sustainable Practices 
• Website: Indigenous Food Systems Network
• Website: Wild Salmon Caravan: The core values of the Wild Salmon Caravan are rooted on principles of collaboration, ancestral memories, and intrinsic connection to lands and waterways to educate, inform, and transform through story
• Interview: The hidden power of food: Finding value in what we eat: Dawn Morrison (Secwepemc ancestry) the director of the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty
• In the Library:
  • Book: Feasting for change: revitalizing connection to food, land and culture
  • Book: Down to earth : how kids help feed the world.
  • Book: A land not forgotten : Indigenous food security and land-based practices in northern Ontario
  • Book: The Earth’s blanket: traditional teachings for sustainable living

Resilience and Resistance using Cuisine:

• Web Series: Red Chef Revival : A travel web series that explores how Indigenous cuisine can be a path to reconciliation
• Article: Serving Up Resilience: Indigenous Chefs Preserve Native Foodways and Create New Ones : Chefs from across Turtle Island are reclaiming their roots and sharing their take on traditional foods.
• Article: How an Indigenous chef is decolonizing Canadian cuisine – an exploration of modern Indigenous cuisine
• Article: How an Indigenous chef is raising awareness about traditional foods in Canada: Indigenous cooking is a way to embrace traditional roots and work towards healing

Edible Plants/Foraging/Traditional Foods

• Book: Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples
• Resource: Traditional Foods Fact Sheets
• Resource: Traditional Food Fact Sheets #2
• Website: Feasting Toolkit – The Nuu-chah-nulth Traditional Foods Toolkit includes six booklets about harvesting and preparing traditional foods on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Created for anyone interested in gathering and eating healthy local foods, the toolkit includes easy-to-read instructions, exclusive content, and activities for groups and individuals.
• Video: Traditional Plants with Deanna Miller and Carlyn Andres from Katzie First Nation
• Video: Traditional Medicines and Tea with Deanna Miller and Carlyn Andres from Katzie First Nation
• Resource: Tea cards from the SD40 Aboriginal Education Department – AMAZING
• Blends from the Land – Tea List

Cooking Techniques and Modern Methods:

• Video: Stone, Smoke, Clay:  Natrall celebrates and takes part in the decolonization of Indigenous food culture by educating others and interpreting modern cuisine through an Indigenous lens: “We try to focus on Indigenous cooking methods, like smoking meats, clay baking, stone baking, cooking without oil…”
• Article: Cooking with fire and steam
• TV Series: Moosemeat and Marmalade:  A cooking show that explores food, culture, and culinary traditions
• Online Resource: First Nations Health Authority : Canning Foods Your Guide To Successful Canning

Recipe Books:

• Book: Where People Feast: An Indigenous People’s Cookbook
• Book: Me?tis cookbook and guide to healthy living.
• Book: A Tahltan Cookbook
• Website: The 10 Essential Indigenous Recipes
• Online Resource: Native Women’s Association of Canada – Traditional Foods and Recipes on the Wild Side
• Video: Making Bannock with Kwantlen Elder – Karen Gabriel

Stories:

• Picture Book: The First Fry Bread
• Picture Book: Awasis and the world famous bannock
• Picture Book: Granny’s Giant Bannock
• Picture Book: The Three Sisters
• Picture Book: Fishing with Grandma
• Picture Book: A Walk on the Tundra
• Picture Book: Lessons from Mother Earth

Agriculture and Mariculture:

• Clam Gardens:
  • Website: Clam Garden : a group of First Nations, academics, researchers, and resource managers from coastal British Columbia, Washington State, and Alaska who are interested in the cultural and ecological importance of traditional clam management practices and features, including clam gardens. The site is home to a number of informative videos, articles, and activities.
  • Article: Clam Digging through 3, 500 Years of Indigenous History: Clam gardens are a form of food production and food security that the First Nations peoples have used for generations and are a culmination of ecosystems and environmental knowledge
  • Kit: Sustainable Resources – Clam Garden
  • Book: Clam Garden: Aboriginal Mariculture on Canada’s West Coast
  • Book: If you want to see a sea garden
• Katzie – Wapato Garden
  • Article: 3,800-Year Old Garden Discovered in Pitt Meadows
  • Article: Ancient Underwater Garden Discovered : The site could represent the first direct evidence of wetland plant cultivation in the Pacific Northwest
  • Article: Katzie and the Wapato : An Archeological Love Story
• Gardening – General
  • Audio: On a hunt for North America’s Indigenous Crops – CBC Radio
  • West Coast Seeds Gardening Guide
  • Honouring Memories Planting Dreams – Celebrated in May and June, Honouring Memories, Planting Dreams invites individuals and organizations to join in reconciliation by planting heart gardens in their communities. Heart gardens honour residential school survivors and their families, as well as the legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
  • Purchasing Indigenous plants:
    • West Coast Gardens
    • West Coast Seeds 

Indigenous Restaurants:

• Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro in Vancouver
• Kekuli Café in Merritt and in Westbank, Kelowna
• Lelem’ Arts and Cultural Café in Fort Langley
• Mr. Bannock in Vancouver
• Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre in Whistler