Paying Homage on Indigenous People's Day
On Indigenous People's Day, HRN is paying homage to the deep knowledge and rich foodways of Indigenous people. These episodes dive into history, culinary culture, and the fight for greater food sovereignty.
Speaking Broadly Episode 146: Indigenous Wisdom from the Kitchen: Felicia Ruiz: Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz is a kitchen curandera living in Rio Verde, Arizona "reclaiming the healer approach to community health with Indigenous wisdom and whole food cooking". On Speaking Broadly, Ruiz shares her journey to becoming a healer through food. "Being an Indigenous person and taking a class on foraging or wild-crafting from a white person, it was really hard for me. The teacher would refer to the Indigenous tribes that were using plants in the past tense. Saying 'they used them,' as if they were no longer being used, or if the people themselves were extinct." Ruiz is now teaching workshops using her ancestors' approach: we are a part of nature. The plants are our relatives and deserve our respect. Listen in for insights on herbal medicine, Indigenizing the diet, and traveling in a food truck to the tribal nations in the Southwest to share and absorb the wisdom of the elders.
Eat Your Heartland Out Episode 27: Indigenous Food Sovereignty: Decolonizing Midwestern Diets: We will meet two more leaders in the Indigenous food sovereignty movement who are using food to both empower and inspire. From seed cataloguing to sustainable fishing, Indigenous persons are decolonizing their diets, preserving their traditions, and educating their non-Native neighbors about the important role food plays in all of our lives Daniel Grooms, business manager of the Red Cliff Fish Company in Wisconsin, shares how the Red Cliff band of Lake Superior Chippewa stepped up to create their own fishing business to thwart discrimination in commercial fishing and feed their community directly. Elena Terry, from the Ho-Chunk Nation, tells us why she founded Wild Bearies, an organization that educates indigenous youth about traditional indigenous foodways to preserve tradition and empower the next generation.
The Big Food Question Episode 36: Is Philanthropy Doing Enough to Support Native Food Sovereignty?: Native enterprises and nonprofits are working to ensure food sovereignty for their communities and neighbors. Land access and capital are key to this mission, and philanthropic grants are often a major source of funding. However, grant money often comes with many strings attached and reporting requirements that bog down the organizations they’re trying to help. Marilyn Noble’s reporting in The Counter examines how philanthropies (often private foundations with large endowments) currently support Tribal communities and what advocates say they could be doing better.
Eating Matters Episode 170: Gather: Ever wonder why we don’t eat Bison meat in this country? This is a little known - but extremely important - part of American history that perfectly demonstrates one way the US government worked to systematically steal land from and decimate Native American people. It was a tactic that effectively communicated that ‘one dead buffalo is two dead Indians.’ Director Sanjay Rawal (Food Chains) joins host Jenna Liut to discuss his critically-acclaimed, newly-released documentary, Gather. The film demonstrates how Indigenous Americans are reclaiming their sovereignty over their annihilated ancestral food systems, while battling against the historical trauma brought on by colonialism and centuries of genocide.
Eating Matters Episode 171: Native Foods with Chef Nephi Craig: Following up on our previous episode featuring Sanjay Rawal, director of the newly-released film, Gather, host Jenna Liut interviews a central character of the documentary: Native food practitioner, Nephi Craig. Chef Craig is the founder of both the Native American Culinary Association as well as Café Gozhóó where he also serves as the Executive Chef. They discuss Indigenous food systems and the modern colonial violence that continues to threaten them, as well as cultural appropriation in the culinary world. Chef Craig helps us to solidify our definition of food sovereignty and better understand the intersection of Native foods, cultural preservation, community health, and political autonomy.
Meat and Three Episode 83: Striving for Sovereignty in Indigenous Foodways: This week we share stories about indigenous foods and food sovereignty, here in the U.S. and across the globe. We’ll explore the richness of indigenous ingredients, the power of small-holder farms, and the importance of representation. First, we explore the lasting impact of settler colonialism on the food sovereignty of indigenous people in the U.S. Then, we look to Yolélé Foods to understand how they are expanding the market for fonio while benefiting farmers in West Africa, where the grain originates. We hear from The Sioux Chef, Sean Sherman about his foray into the world of indigenous culinary history and look at battle to identify Palestinian cuisine as just that, Palestinian.
Meat to Be Eaten Episode 17: Members of I-Collective on the State of Indigenous Cuisine: The I-Collective is a group of Indigenous chefs, activists, herbalists, seed, and knowledge keepers. Indigenous communities have been wild-foraging, cooking farm-to-table/snout-to-tail, and manipulating closed loop agricultural systems before it was cool. So why don’t we see Native American joints popping up everywhere? We examine colonialism’s lasting effects on health and identity, define “Indigenous food sovereignty”, and discuss how we can work together to present a more truthful history.
