Organic reach: #FoodSovereignty moves to the web

#ColonialContact brought foreign food and disease to tribal nations. Now, a digital generation is reconnecting with tradition.

by Kim Baca April 18, 2018

Excerpt: "When Native Americans were forced to assimilate — confined to reservations and placed in Indian boarding schools — traditional food preparation waned, forgotten in a world of processed foods and modern cooking conveniences. But [#MariahGladstone], who shops at the grocery store, hunts or receives food from family and friends, wants to show how easy, affordable and tasty Indigenous cooking can be. Her recipe for salmon cornmeal cakes, which takes just five steps and five ingredients, appears in a how-to video on her 'Indigikitchen' (Indigenous kitchen) Facebook page, which has more than 1,400 followers.

" 'There is also a lot of interest from Native communities across the country to revitalize their Native foods, not only for the health benefit but for the connection to our ancestors and to recognize our identities as Native people,' she said.

"Some Indigenous chefs are incorporating traditional foods in anti-Thanksgiving pop-up dinners, cooking without any dairy, processed flour or sugar, all ingredients introduced after European contact. This excludes #frybread, often considered a traditional Native food enjoyed at powwows and other Indigenous events. Few realize that frybread was created by Navajos in 1864, during their forced removal, when they had little to eat other than U.S. government rations of white flour, sugar and lard.

"But 'pre-Contact' cooking is more than a foodie trend for people like 13-year-old Maizie White, an #AkwesasneMohawk seventh-grader who writes about Indigenous food and shares recipes on her blog, NativeHearth.com. Her recipes include avocado hominy salsa, spiced squash waffles, wild rice stuffed squash and venison roast and gravy.

" 'It helps #IndigenousFarmers and local people who are growing the food to make a living,' said White, who was invited by #SeanSherman, an #OglalaLakota also known as '#TheSiouxChef,' to cook at the renowned James Beard House in New York City. 'We’re giving back to our community and it is much more healthier and much more economical to cook. It also brings us back to what was here beforehand and respect what was already here.' "

Read more:
https://www.hcn.org/issues/50-7/tribal-affairs-organic-reach-food-sovereignty-moves-onto-the-web/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/E2FRq

#SolarPunkSunday #AnimalProducts #IndigenousFoodSecurity #IndigenousFoodSovereignty #IndigenousFoodSystems #LandBack #Reclaiming #Decolonize #TraditionalDiets #AntiThanksgiving #TraditionalFoods #IndigenousPeoplesMonth

#FirstNations farmers are growing opportunity and better food for all

Rebecca Gao
Published July 10, 2025

Excerpt: "Despite these obstacles [from lack of funds], #TeaCreek is thriving. Since starting in 2019, the farm now employs other #IndigenousPeople, provides opportunities for apprenticeship and training and runs land-based, culturally safe and Indigenous-led learning programs for Indigenous people.

"Tea Creek has also hosted a flood of First Nations visitors, which Mr. Beaton says is particularly exciting and joyful. 'A lot of elders, their first memory is on a First Nations farm that got taken away,' he says. 'There’s huge excitement being on a First Nations farm again that hasn’t existed in a long time.'

"Mr. Beaton is just one member of a growing cohort of Indigenous farmers: in Toronto, Isaac Crosby is the community partner at the University of Toronto-Scarborough’s community farm, where he maintains the Indigenous food and medicine gardens. Crosby, who is Afro-Ojibwe, says “it’s important to learn from #IndigenousFarmers about how to take care of the Earth.' "

Read more:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/small-business/article-first-nations-farmers-are-growing-opportunity-and-better-food-for-all/

#SolarPunkSunday #IndigenousFoodSovereignty #FoodSovereignty #FoodSecurity #RegenerativeAgriculture

An intermediate level of disturbance with customary agricultural practices increases species diversity in Maya community forests in Belize

"Slash-and-burn agriculture can increase forest biodiversity"

"Local households ... farm the land for a few years and then let it return to its natural state while they use a new parcel of forest to farm."

Source:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-01089-6

Lay summary:
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-slash-and-burn-agriculture-forest-biodiversity.html

#disturbance #biodiversity #sustainability #IndigenousFarmers