Indigenous People’s Day
Did you know that 70% of the food we consume around the world today originated by Indigenous people’s of the Americas? This is an important fact we learned from White Mountain Apache Chef Nephi Craig in the recently released documentary Gather. On this Indigenous People’s Day, consider watching “Gather”.
Gather documents the important stories of Native Americans reclaiming their political, social, and cultural connection to traditional foods, after living through the trauma of centuries of genocide and stolen land. A ‘Food Sovereignty’ movement is at the heart of the rebirth of Indigenous foodways where Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian tribal members are reclaiming power over the foods they produce, distribute, and consume rather than being subjected to the global influences from multi-national corporations that produce cheap, ultra processed foods.
For instance, the Yurok Tribe located along the Klamath River about five hours north of San Francisco, passed one of the first tribal ordinances in 2015 to ban genetically engineered (GE) salmon and GMO crops within the Tribe’s territory. Doing so would prevent GE salmon from being raised or released within the Klamath River, home to the wild salmon that the Tribe has relied on for subsistence and commercial fishing. This is a powerful first step to protect the wild salmon. However, after being subjected to centuries of violent conflict and legal battles, the Tribal Council continues to persevere and create partnerships with other governments to reclaim their rights to steward the Klamath River Basin Ecosytem. The Tribe still has a long road ahead to use their own indigenous practices for a healthy, vibrant commercial salmon fishery that puts food on the table and supports their economy on the Reservation. We encourage you to watch the film Gather and then learn more about the steps the Yurok Tribe is taking to once again have power and control over their indigenous food supply while stewarding their local ecosystem.
Sources: Indian Country Today & First Nations Development Institute