I watched a great documentary on Netflix a short while back (okay, maybe it was this summer) and there is no better time to share than Native American Heritage Month. I learned about the movement to restore local native foodways in our country which led me to do a little more research into what that looked like locally for us here in the Pacific Northwest, from farming to dining to building community.
Gather
The movie is Gather: The Fight To Revitalize Our Native Foodways and it highlights the work to bring food sovereignty to tribal communities as a way of reclaiming tradition and land.
Gather follows Nephi Craig, a chef from the White Mountain Apache Nation (Arizona), opening an indigenous café as a nutritional recovery clinic; Elsie Dubray, a young scientist from the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation (South Dakota), conducting landmark studies on bison; and the Ancestral Guard, a group of environmental activists from the Yurok Nation (Northern California), trying to save the Klamath river.
It was encouraging to see the ways in which native foodways are being restored, as well as what this means to communities and youth who are cultivating a sense of pride and empowerment to counter a history of generational trauma, as well as mainstream culture that does not value them.
Cafe Gozhoo is mentioned in the Gather movie as an example of the farm to table experience that focuses on the Western Apache in White River, Arizona. Although they do offer a variety of cultural foods as they are an educational program, Indigenous foods play a large role.
Our menu celebrates wild and cultivated Indigenous flora and fauna while integrating Indigenous Foods of the Americas. The menu at Café Gozhóó is designed to nourish and celebrate our Ancestral Intelligence through fresh and local Western Apache cooking.
The film is available on iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo on Demand, and Netflix.
Local Native Foodways
But I wanted to know if we have anything local to us here in Washington State. Our Wild Puget Sound recently wrote an article, Reclaiming Land By Growing Native Foods, about how local tribes are advocating for land to grow traditional foods. Much of this advocacy is in conjunction with existing land management agencies like the US Forest Service.
The reality is that tribal people have been actively managing the forest in the Puget Sound for 15,000 years,” he says. “Every species and landscape and ecosystem that exists here today exists the way it does because of tribal management of those important resources.”
The Tulalip have collaborated with the U.S. Forest Service in recent years to co-manage portions of their ancestral land. One example is the Huckleberry Enhancement Project, a 1,280-acre parcel in the Skykomish watershed that lies within Tulalip ancestral lands in an area where huckleberry bushes are abundant. Members of the tribe are encouraged to harvest in the area, and the tribe leads a youth camp where younger members can learn about traditional management practices while caring for the huckleberry bushes in the area.
“They’re able to go to this place and participate in that management,” Miller says. “We’re trying to, in that way, continue that traditional education to those kids about these management practices.”
Since the project’s inception, the tribe has reintroduced traditional practices to care for the huckleberry bushes in the area, many of which boil down to keeping the area clear for the huckleberries, which thrive in open spaces. This is what the tribe did traditionally, Miller says, usually keeping areas clear of encroaching conifers that would shade the plants out and by conducting controlled burns to make space for them.
Joe Neal, a forest service ranger for the Skykomish District who has worked with the Tulalip in this area, says that these practices are still new for the Forest Service, especially in Western Washington. They’ve started to conduct controlled burns of conifer trees in recent years, but it’s taken time to untangle Western notions of what management should look like: “It’s an educational process as we try to educate our fire managers that it’s all right to do [controlled burns]. It was something that the Indigenous people did forever.”
First Nations Development Institute
The website for Gather includes resources with links about native food systems and the movie was made in partnership with First Nations Development Institute out of Colorado.
First Nations Development Institute recognizes that accessing healthy food is a challenge for many Native American children and families. Without access to healthy food, a nutritious diet and good health are out of reach. To increase access to healthy food, we support tribes and Native communities as they build sustainable food systems that improve health, strengthen food security and increase their control over Native agriculture and food systems. First Nations provides this assistance in the form of financial and technical support, including training materials, to projects that address agriculture and food sectors in Native communities.
First Nations has offered grants to multiple groups in Washington State in the effort to expand food sovereignty, such as Feed Seven Generations out of Enumclaw and the Swinomish Clam Garden Project in La Conner. If feeling inclined, you can also donate to their work here. Tea Creek in Northern British Columbia is also working to bring this movement forward similar to Squaxin Island.
Salish Roots Farm
In searching for other local examples of native foodway restoration, I signed up for a newsletter from Washington Tribes. You may be able to find similar newsletters where you live. I don’t know how often Washington Tribes posts but the one I received so far had some interesting content.
They shared about the Salish Roots Farm on Squaxin Island near Bellingham, Washington. You can follow them on Instagram. This video is just a short introduction to their history here in the Pacific Northwest.
From their website about the farm:
Today, many tribes are working hard to revive Indigenous food traditions disrupted by colonization and industrialization. From clam gardens to camas harvests, tribes across the state are promoting health and sustainability, preserving culture and exercising their sovereignty through traditional food programs.
There was a recipe for nettle pesto in the newsletter, I think I will have my hubby do some foraging. He loves this kind of stuff, we have jars of fireweed jelly and syrup from his escapades this summer!
Local Native Dining Opportunities
In further research I also discovered several restaurants or food trucks in the Puget Sound that also strive for an Indigenous focus or are sponsored by local tribes. I hope to visit them some day!
- Tibbits FernHill The owner, Shawn Tibbits, is a national ranked chef originally from Alaska and the establishment is reservations only. He strives to be zero waste and locally sourced and he cooks on two camp stove burners! Watch this video here.
- Off The Rez Their food truck offers a lot of what you expect like fry bread and Indian tacos, they also provide catered menus such as braised bison pot roast, sautéed seasonal greens & caramelized onions, wild rice pilaf, cedar marsala glazed mushrooms.
- Native Soul Cuisine Chef Jeremy Thunderbird specializes in giving comfort foods an Indigenous spin.
The work of restoring native food ways is not just a benefit to individual tribes and First Nations, we can all be impacted positively by a desire to return to more native (original to this land) methods. As our climate continues to change and both native and cultivated foods we have counted on begin to become scarce or harder to grow, it is will be crucial to understand the ways that existed for centuries before colonization. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer is a great book if you want to learn more about returning to traditional ways of interacting with the natural world of which we are included. If you have already read that one, she also just released a new book: Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity In The Natural World that I am excited to read. She will also be featured by Seattle Arts & Lectures, in person and online to talk about her new book!
Thank you for joining me down this rabbit hole, sometimes a movie just drives you to learn more. If you know of any more projects or restaurants along this line, please let me know in the comments!
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Well I really feel pretty tired since I hurt my back — oh that’s not what you mean. This movement is happening in my part of Colorado and Northern New Mexico, too. It’s pretty cool. There are sometimes workshops offered at the Sand Dunes but I haven’t attended.
That would be cool to attend workshops at GSDNP, you are lucky to live so close. I hope this movement continues to grow.
All very interesting. I am going to forward this post to my daughter.
Thank you, Meg. I hope your daughter enjoys it!