For Native Americans in Minnesota, food is a sign of oppression

our food choices are the result of more than just our pounds they're also shaped by history's with the Native American commuters in the u.s. food is a symbol of a people struggle to preserve their tradition despite the violence of colonialism but when Native American communities reclaim their food traditions so much good can come out of it impacting both their cultures and their bodies reminder Tuesday December 8th 2015 in the Eagle room at the RTG KB ft and Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund presents a food event in honor of our elders featuring the shaolin chairman the sous chef shawn sharma has been a professional chef for the past 27 years he got to start by cooking what most people would consider a traditional American food today he's preparing a traditional Native American fees for the Chippewa on a boy's foot reservation in Minnesota oops it's fair to say boys fort is secluded in the 1800's Native American communities were isolated for a series of policies enacted by the US government everything from commerce to food supplies were cut off in its place the government pushed prepackaged commodities like lard and sugar this is what chef Sherman calls oppression food food that literally sickens the body centuries later the only place to buy food and boys for it as a gas station for anything that's not junk you need to travel 34 miles to the closest market 62 for a real grocery Shawn wants to fix this by bring an indigenous cuisine back to its people making sure that Native American food histories and food items themselves are present for Native American people that's important to you yeah you know I grew up on Pine Ridge Reservation and you know I started cooking at a really young age and I got to a point where I had this vision of wanting to do Native American food because it was the food of my ancestors and my heritage and you know the oppression foods that people got put on so once they moved onto reservations they were forced to become dependent on the government for lots of canned foods and you know packaged foods and I grew up with that stuff and I didn't think much of it I didn't like a lot of it I thought all cheese tasted like the big block cheese's and you know I couldn't eat samox I thought all salmon tastes like this canned government salmon we used to get his kids you know it's just bad food it's getting people to really reconnect with the plants as a food source that are all around them and you know utilize more of the wild game that's always been there and just really think about these flavor profiles that really speak of something that's Native American and doesn't feel like it's Italian or you know anything else in general short is not alone in this mission Rebecca Yoshino from will zoobi tribal gardens is working with Shawn to restore the indigenous diet for reasons beyond taste Native Americans have the highest rates of diabetes of any racial group in the US since commoditized foods were introduced in the 50s Native American communities have been plunged into a diet induced health crisis food as medicine and food can also be poison depending on what it is that you're putting into your bodies there are so many health related illnesses that could be remedied with healthy foods or clean foods indigenous foods that are just not not available so it's it's very very serious what can one find on this property here what everything here well we have elderberries and Jun berries wild plums hazelnuts choke cherries you know some of these foods that were historically wild here I mean you can still find them in the wild in the Minnesota River Valley and our culturally significant foods as well a lot of communities here within this country you know we're growing crops like sunflowers horn squash beans tomatoes sweet potatoes I mean all kinds of stuff and when communities were displaced from their lands commodity foods were brought in that were incredibly unhealthy you know instead making people really say you know I mean food food and access to food was definitely used as a weapon to help you know subjugate like well like some what you see commodity feel like you know like possibly flour and you know butter yeah lots of highly processed foods I mean fry bread that is not traditional food which is that you what is football fried bread because it's by here it's one of the state it's a staple it is absolutely and a lot of people do think of it as a yeah as a you know more traditional food but it's literally white flour you know and water and I mean it's a dough that's deep-fried that tastes really good but is really unhealthy in a long time you'll fry bread was illegal zucchini fries redder you could speak private in public places keeps the cola as a Native American folk artist in a cultural icon assets song Indian cars has been the most requested song on tribal radio for over 20 years can you talk about the importance of holding on to your indigenous traditions like your food recipes like your music why is it important for the generation today to hold on to these well I think it's important to our way of life in Anishinabe up here we call it mineral bidet showing to live a good life and to live a good life you have to have good food you know because I think what happens is the nutrition it confuses us and it makes us mean or makes us unhappy and so I think if we get our balance back our balance back to our traditional foods that it'll help everything from diabetes to high blood pressure hypertension and all the other illnesses that are very very plaguing Indian country you care and drift condition ecause kbf T's word of the day is strawberries oh damn and none o DME none strawberries Karen drift is one of only ten remaining boys for residents fluent in a native language is no coincidence she chose fruit for her word of the day on local radio like Keith she believes oppression food isn't just a nutrition problem but part of a greater movement to restore a sense of language and identity we're losing everything you know not only the the weight once before foods and language and you know what is your your message to to your grandkids so those who come after your grandkids as it relates to the preserving of your culture what would you say to them well I what I do say to them is in anybody else that'll listen you learn your language first and everything else will follow their ceremonies your ways of eating your you know I tell the other people that listen you know our kids are coming up what's gonna happen get in it the work that people like Sean are doing brings elders like Karen a new sense of hope we're trace in the past maybe the key to a strong future in Native communities any absence of government accountability returning to indigenous food words and music can make a world of difference I knew from the get-go that this was way bigger than I could ever be you know this food and the the chance of being able to bring health back into communities just by showing people how to eat great wonderful food that's always been around them we have this direct connection with the plants around us and I just want people to get that back like you know get to know these plants again and these foods again so yeah it's not it's way bigger than I can ever be I wouldn't even want to try to you know stand up to something like that so I just really want to share moving forward

Channel: Mic

Views: 29,463

Rating: 4.7014084 out of 5

Keywords: the movement, darnell moore, native americans

Id: xqPBxcDg8GM

Length: 8min 41sec (521 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 09 2016