Indigenous cuisine revitalization: best places to sample traditional foods
Sep 26, 2019 鈥 4 min read
Pueblo Harvest has been making Native Amerian cuisine since 1976 漏 Courtesy of Pueblo Harvest
Across the western US and Canada鈥檚 First Nations, there鈥檚 a growing movement that鈥檚 revitalizing Indigenous food. From game to foraged berries, chefs are reimagining their ancestors鈥 traditional foods for everyone to enjoy. Here are 10 places to sample Indigenous cuisine in North America.
There's no one type of Indigenous food 鈥 there are hundreds. Each chef鈥檚 interpretation is personal, drawing on family histories, tribal traditions, regional ingredients and individual taste. Some use only pre-contact ingredients; whereas, others embrace Indian tacos made from bannock or frybread (unleavened bread made from wheat flour) or mix Indigenous ingredients with global flavors.
Pueblo Harvest
Owned and operated by the , has been serving what it calls 鈥楴ative sourced. Pueblo Inspired鈥 fare in Albuquerque since 1976.
Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the menu has changed over the years and includes both pre-contact options 鈥 bison carpaccio with pickled squash or amaranth and corn fritters 鈥 alongside post-contact ones, like blue corn onion rings.
Bow & Arrow Brewing Co.
For a beer before dinner, or for those who consider beer to be dinner, the located in Albuquerque is the place to go. Shyla Sheppard, from the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, opened it along with Missy Begay, from the Navajo Nation, in 2016.
Bow & Arrow鈥檚 tap menu rotates to feature seasonal brews and includes the likes of the denim tux lager, made with local blue corn and the savage times sour IPA. The brewery also hosts tours, tastings and sells bottles to go.
Cafe Ohlone
Tucked behind a bookstore across from the UC Berkeley campus, offers tea on Tuesdays, lunch on Thursdays, weekend brunches and dinners on Saturday. The set menu changes with the seasons and features acorn flour, foraged berries and greens, San Francisco Bay sea salt and game meats.
Dishes range from hazelnut milk chia porridge with blackberry and bay laurel sauce to roasted salmon with duck fat heirloom potatoes and fiddleheads.
Salmon N鈥橞annock
Further north up the Pacific coast in Vancouver, British Columbia, is the city鈥檚 only First Nations restaurant. It serves wild sockeye salmon so fresh and flavorful you鈥檒l question whether all that farmed fish you鈥檝e been eating should be allowed to share the same name.
For a taste of everything, order the salmon and game samplers, alongside a glass of wine from North America鈥檚 first Indigenous-owned winery 鈥 Nk'Mip Cellars.
Tocabe
Matt Chandra and Ben Jacobs opened in Denver, Colorado, in 2008. The American Indian eatery specializes in Indian tacos and wild rice bowls topped with bison or beans, sweet corn, roasted green chilies and housemade salsas.
Many of the recipes are influenced by Osage Nation cuisines and were also used at the Jacobs鈥 family restaurant 鈥 Grayhorse: An American Indian Eatery, which operated in downtown Denver in 1989.
Feast Caf茅 Bistro
What began as simple curiosity about Indigenous food eventually blossomed into something greater for Christa Bruneau-Guenther, from the Peguis First Nation.
In December 2015, Bruneau-Guenther opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which serves 鈥榤odern dishes rooted in First Nations foods.鈥 There鈥檚 grass-fed bison sausages and a Saskatoon berry smoothie for breakfast and bison stew or vegan bean chili for lunch or dinner.
Pow Wow Caf茅
Shawn Adler made a name for himself serving Indian tacos at music festivals across Ontario and in October 2016, he opened the in Toronto鈥檚 Kensington Market.
Beyond Pow Wow food鈥檚 greatest hits 鈥 Indian tacos, scone dogs with cranberry mustard and sage ketchup and corn soup with smoked duck 鈥 Pow Wow Caf茅 also offers brunch and homemade cedar soda.
K奴-k怒m Kitchen
, located in Toronto, Canada, reclaims the expression 鈥榝arm-to-table鈥 and adds forest to the equation. Chef Joseph Shawana, from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Reserve, draws from his childhood memories of eating from the land.
The upscale menu changes with the seasons, and features the likes of sous vide elk loin with roasted carrot puree, caramelized onions, squash and wine with maple glaze; a barley and squash risotto with parmesan and sweetgrass oil.
K奴-k怒m鈥檚 signature dish is seal loin tartar, which sparked an online petition that, in turn, sparked a counter-petition and a much-needed public conversation about Indigenous food sovereignty. Whether or not you decide to try seal, make sure to leave room for the pine needle and citrus sorbet.
Nikoski Bistro Pub
When crafting her menu, Wapokunie Riel-Lachapelle draws from her M茅tis heritage, combining French Canadian classics with Indigenous ingredients. The end result are dishes like the Nikosi poutine with BBQ duck confit, cheese curds, dried cranberries and green peppercorn gravy.
In addition to boasting front-row views of the Gatineau River, , located in Wakefield, Quebec, has excellent cocktails. Try the sprucey negroni or the electric pow wow made with blueberry maple kombucha, lime, and rum.
Migmak Catering Indiegenous Kitchen
From the Algonquin three sister鈥檚 casserole with polenta, wild rice with cranberries and bannock to the salmon fish cakes with seaweed relish, it鈥檚 no wonder patrons must make a reservation before heading to .
Located in the Montreal borough of Pierrefords, Migmak is the first permanent restaurant dedicated to Indigenous cuisine in the city. Chef Norma Condo, from Gesgapegiag Nation, began her catering company in 2018 and a year later, Condo added a small sit-down restaurant.
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