Library Spotlight: Posts

Ange's Pick: National Indigenous History Month

For National Indigenous History Month, Humber Libraries is collaborating with Indigenous Education & Engagement to highlight new and diverse Indigenous voices, histories and experiences across Turtle Island. Each Friday in June, a member of the IE&E community will recommend a book that has influenced, moved or inspired them. In turn, the library will share a recommended reading list that complements their selection of the week.

Ange's book pick: Tawâw: Progressive Indigenous cuisine

"Indigenous cuisine varies from nation to nation across Turtle Island, however, not much is known about Indigenous food. Chef Shane has made it his life's mission to gain as much knowledge about other First Nations' palates and ingredients. I chose this book because Chef Shane, who is a Gold Metal Plate recipient, takes you on a journey through the seasons while demonstrating his culinary creative flare with over seventy-five recipes. Outside of being a cookbook, Tawâw which translates to "Come in, your welcome, there's room" highlights Chartand's culinary journey, and his influences as well as demonstrating his talented techniques.

I chose this book to highlight our Indigenous flavors and cuisines that go beyond highly processed staple dishes such as bannock, scone, and Indian tacos. Indigenous contributions to the culinary world are vast such as maple syrup, various berries, venison, wild rice, squash, and seal. I recommend this book to anyone who is in the culinary arts or to anyone who wants to attain knowledge of Indigenous cuisine."

Born and raised in Toronto, Ange Brascoupé is from Kitigan Zibi (Quebec) and Batchewana First Nation. As a former chef, Ange remains passionate about what Indigenous cuisine is and the importance of Indigenous food sovereignty. She is a student at Humber in the Business-Marketing program and is the Communications Assistant at IE&E.

If you liked this week's pick, why not check out some further selected resources,  available at Humber Libraries?

Modern Native Feasts by Andrew George Jr.

Contemporary, imaginative interpretations of First Nations cuisine, including lighter, healthier, and more nutritious versions of traditional recipes. Native American cuisine comes of age in this elegant, contemporary collection that reinterprets and updates traditional Native recipes with modern, healthy twists. Andrew George Jr. was head chef for Aboriginal foods at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver; his imaginative menus reflect the diverse new culinary landscape while being mindful of an ages-old reverence for the land and sea, reflecting the growing interest in a cuisine that is rapidly moving into the mainstream to become the "next big thing" among food trends. Andrew also works actively at making Native foods healthier and more nutritious; his recipes are lighter, less caloric, and include Asian touches, such as bison ribs with Thai spices, and a sushi roll with various cooked fish wrapped in nori. Other dishes include venison barley soup, wild berry crumble, sea asparagus salad, and buffalo tourtiere. Full of healthy, delicious, and thoroughly North American fare, Modern Native Feasts is the first Aboriginal foods cookbook to go beyond the traditional and take a step into the twenty-first century.

 

Stories from the Land: Corn Soup [Video] by Wendell G. Collier (Producer) Ryan McMahon (Producer), CBC Curio. 

A chef and a knowledge keeper make traditional corn soup, and pass on the story of why corn soup is so culturally significant to the Six Nations people of Southern Ontario, Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luschiim's Plants: Traditional Indigenous foods, materials and medicines by Charlie, Luschiim Arvid

Respected Cowichan Tribe Elder and botanical expert Luschiim, Arvid Charlie, began his education in early childhood, learning from his great grandparents and others of their generation. uschiim’s Plants represents his dedication to the survival of the Hul′q′umi′num′ language and traditional knowledge of plants for future generations. From the healing properties of qaanlhp (arbutus) to the many practical applications of q’am (bull kelp), the information presented in this remarkable guide shares knowledge of plants that Luschiim is familiar with through his own Elders’ teachings and by way of direct experience over the course of his lifetime, and compiled from field outings and interviews with notable ethnobiologist and botanist Nancy Turner. In this unprecedented collection of botanical information, over 140 plants are categorized within their broad botanical groupings: algae and seaweeds, lichens, fungi and mushrooms, mosses and liverworts, ferns and fern-allies, coniferous trees, deciduous trees, shrubs and vines, and herbaceous flowering plants. Each entry is illustrated with a colour photo and includes the plant’s common, scientific and Hul′q′umi′num′ names; a short description; where to find it; and cultural knowledge related to the plant.

 

Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous landscapes through Indigenous science by Jessica Hernandez

A 2022 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist in Science & Technology An Indigenous environmental scientist breaks down why western conservationism isn't working--and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies, personal stories, and family histories that center the voices of Latin American women and land protectors. Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as "soft"--the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization. Here, Jessica Hernandez--Maya Ch'orti' and Zapotec environmental scientist and founder of environmental agency Pina Soul--introduces and contextualizes Indigenous environmental knowledge and proposes a vision of land stewardship that heals rather than displaces, that generates rather than destroys. 

 

A drum in one hand, a sockeye in the other : stories of Indigenous food sovereignty from the Northwest Coast by Charlotte Coté

In the dense rainforest of the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Somass River (c̓uumaʕas) brings sockeye salmon (miʕaat) into the Nuu-chah-nulth community of Tseshaht. C̓uumaʕas and miʕaat are central to the sacred food practices that have been a crucial part of the Indigenous community's efforts to enact food sovereignty, decolonize their diet, and preserve their ancestral knowledge. In A Drum in One Hand, a Sockeye in the Other, Charlotte Coté shares contemporary Nuu-chah-nulth practices of traditional food revitalization in the context of broader efforts to re-Indigenize contemporary diets on the Northwest Coast. Coté offers evocative stories of her Tseshaht community's and her own work to revitalize relationships to haʔum (traditional food) as a way to nurture health and wellness. As Indigenous peoples continue to face food insecurity due to ongoing inequality, environmental degradation, and the Westernization of traditional diets, Coté foregrounds healing and cultural sustenance via everyday enactments of food sovereignty: berry picking, salmon fishing, and building a community garden on reclaimed residential school grounds. This book is for everyone concerned about the major role food plays in physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness.