Unreserved

The Root of it

Unreserved

Show Notes

This week, we chef up some Indigenous cuisine!

Share in the spirit – and the science – of cooking with pre-contact ingredients.

Unreserved associate producer Aicha Smith-Belghaba also happens to be a chef and it didn’t take us long to see her passion for Indigenous foods. Join us in the kitchen for our first cooking video, as Aicha cooks up decolonial dishes. On the menu: Sweetgrass Tea, Lyed Corn Berry Parfait and Sister Salmon Cannelloni.

While Aicha and I chef it up, she’ll introduce us to some fellow foodies in her community of Six Nations, a Mohawk reserve teeming with people working to decolonize their diets.

Chandra Maracle is a traditional food researcher from Six Nations. She says a Haudenosaunee approach to food is an essential part of healthy living. Her research focuses on the nutritional qualities of pre contact food – especially as it relates to motherhood.

Deyowidron’t Morrow is a Haudenosaunee dietitian and the chair of the Aboriginal Nutrition Network of Dietitians of Canada. The Six Nations foodie combines her work as a dietician with the traditional food knowledge of her ancestors. Concerned about how often we’re eating colonized food like white flour, milk and sugar, Deyo set out return people to Nation-specific eating, based on the uniqueness of land, culture and tradition.

More from Unreserved

Sep 6, 2024

After 50 years on the endangered species list, the eagle is making a comeback in Canada’s largest city. It’s one of the things we’re celebrating as we explore what the eagle can teach us about our health, our environment and our spirit. This week Rosanna takes us into our first episode of Sacred Seven – a new occasional series that explores the seven sacred teachings and introduces us to Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers and community members who are putting those teachings into action.

Aug 30, 2024

Somebody had to refuse to get on the plane. For decades, Inuit women in northern Quebec had to travel south, far from family and community support, to give birth. But then one mother’s act of defiance ultimately shifted maternal care in the north.

Aug 23, 2024

Jesse Wente’s great grandparents weren’t futurists, but they knew their traditional way of life was ending, and they had a long-term survival plan. We’re talking seven generations long.

Aug 16, 2024

It’s one of the most thoroughly documented treaties in Canadian history, but the true story of Treaty 6 was deliberately lost in translation. Today, our friends at The Secret Life of Canada tell us a tale of deception, broken promises, and Canada’s largest mass hanging.

Aug 9, 2024

D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai beat out a lot of people for his leading role in Reservation Dogs — including his own twin brother! — but the newly Emmy-nominated actor says he’s still humbled on the rez. We think you’ll love his raw and funny interview on Actors & Ancestors, which we’re dropping as a bonus in our podcast feed today.

See all episodes →