Tag: Indigenous
White Earth Land Recovery Project: Class Act
From 1994-2004, Native Americans aged 12-19 saw a 70% increase in diabetes. That’s 7-0. Dietary changes to the traditional diet as well as loss of food security and resource-rich land are all culprits. Whereas indigenous diets saw its food sourced from nutrient-rich vegetables, wild game, corn, and fruits, most tribal communities now import foodstuffs. Check [...]
Food histories, philosophies and complexities
Has healthy eating today become synonymous with reading Michael Pollan books, being a vegan or paying a lot for “organic” food? The answer to this is complex. There is much to be said of popular journalists like Pollan whose work has reached many in the U.S. who otherwise may not have become conscientious about the [...]
Oooo, Baby Baby
Personally, I am not the biggest fan of being called “Baby” in a romantic way by a significant other. Don’t get me wrong, I’m affectionate, I can dish it out, but I’d rather be referred to as “Hey, you” or “Sport” or “Woman” (Just kidding. And a note to my significant other, don’t EVER call [...]
Tamales Here, Tamales There
Homogeneity is dead. When it comes to food, that is. From ancient crops to meats to the spices that make them savory, food is a timeless element of our human reality that is driven to innovate. No one wants to eat boring. So we celebrate colors, robust flavors, textures, scents and the stories that bring [...]
I Live My Life By the Moon
Remember that fabulously catchy Nelly Furtado song—“Turn Off the Light”—where she sings this lovely verse: “I live my life by the moon. If it’s high play it low, if it’s harvest go slow, if it’s full then go.” Well, aside from heartily singing along whenever I hear the song, those verses have some real meaning for [...]
Bannock and Berries
Two things happened to inspire this article—First, I just returned from canoeing up in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northern Minnesota, and second, this is prime berry-picking season. Let me elaborate on why I was even canoeing or berry-picking: I did it for a man. Sigh. Or should I say, the man. [...]
Photo of the Day: To the Women Who Plant and the Men Who Love Them
Here’s to the strong and beautiful women farmers of the world, like this Andean grandma (one of my grandmas), who in her late 70s, still rises before the sun to cultivate her potatoes, barefoot.
Ode to Women and to the Potato
Due to the efforts of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and their worldwide partners, 2008 was declared the International Year of the Potato by the UN General Assembly. (For more information, please see http://www.potato2008.org/). Included in the rationale for acknowledging the potato plant, was the understanding that the tuber is [...]
It’s Never Out of Season to Give Thanks
Every winter on the dreariest, snowiest, coldest days, people and I’d also imagine late birds will decidedly say to each other, “It’s sunny somewhere else,” and then flock in droves to the airports (well, not the birds, although that would be funny—can you imagine a goose with a little suitcase?) to head to Mexico or [...]
