Events

Traditional Northwest Native Foods and Diets

Add to Calendar Burke Museum
Sat., Mar. 31, 2012 | 10 am – 3 pm

Learn how traditional foods were gathered, stored and prepared, and how this varied and delicious cuisine is providing healthy alternatives for Native People today. Traditional Coast Salish cuisine includes over 280 kinds of plants and animals. Contemporary Coast Salish cooks incorporate both traditional and newly introduced ingredients, to create healthy alternatives for families and communities still struggling with loss of terrain, drastically changed lifestyles, and imposed industrial foods. Teachers from the Northwest Indian College and members of local tribes will present activities that illuminate the revival of traditional Native American diets, and how these foods are changing lives today.

The event includes participants from:

Northwest Indian College
Makah Culture and Research Center
Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project
Seattle Indian Health Board
Lummi Traditional Foods Project
Institute for Culture and Ecology
Nisqually Indian Tribe Cultural Program

Traditional Northwest Native Foods and Diets Schedule:

10 am – 3 pm Demonstrations and Tabling

• Cordage, Basketry, Netting, Tool Making, Fruit Leathers with Heidi Bohan—interactive demonstration on cordage/twine-making from cedar, nettle and other natural fibers. Also learn about net-making using cordage and why these skills were important for traditional foods gathering.
• Traditional Food Samples and Recipes with Theresa Parker, Deanna Buzzell-Gray, and Lina Markishtum from the Makah Culture and Research Center—taste smokehouse fish, get recipes for berry cakes, and more.
• Northwest Indian College Traditional Plants Programs with Elizabeth Campbell—photos, books, and plant samples illustrating the way NWIC is using traditional diets to help Native Peoples today.
• Nettles with Elizabeth Swanaset (Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project)—see demonstrations and discuss how nettles can be used as food, medicine, teas, and tools.
• Art of Food with Roger Fernandes—illustrations of traditional food from “Feeding the People, Feeding the Spirit.”
• Cultural significance of montane environments to Coast Salish people with Joyce LeCompte-Mastenbrook
• Boiling Water with Rocks with Abe Lloyd – a demonstration of how Native People heated rocks to boil water for cooking in cedar baskets and bowls.
• Food of the Plateau People with Marjorie Waheneka, Living History Coordinator, Tamastslikt Cultural Institute—a display of harvesting tools and corn husk bags, food display and interactive food wheel.

10:15–11:15 am—Welcome Song in the Lobby
Roger Fernandes, a member of the Lower Elwha Band of the S'Klallam Indians from Port Angeles, starts our day with a traditional song of welcome.

10:30–11:15 am—Food Walk
Valerie Segrest (Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project) leads a short food foraging expedition on the UW campus.

11:30 am–12:30 pm—Preparing a Wild Green Salad with Healthy Dressing
Vanessa Cooper (Lummi Traditional Foods Project)

12:45–1:30 pm—Storytelling with Roger Fernandes
Roger Fernandes, a member of the Lower Elwha Band of the S'Klallam Indians from Port Angeles, shares traditional stories of food, feast, and famine.

1:00–1:45 pm—Food Walk
Melissa Poe (Institute for Culture and Ecology) leads a short tour around the UW campus pointing out wild plants that are useful for foods and medicine.

1:30–2:30 pm—Panel Discussion - Diverse Wild Food & Medicine Traditions in Urban Seattle
Annette Squetimkin-Anquoe (Seattle Indian Health Board, Traditional Health Liaison)
Melissa Poe (Institute for Culture and Ecology)
Lynnette Roberts (Seattle Indian Health Board)

Photo: Spring stinging nettles. Photo courtesy of Elise Krohn.