Celebrating Indigenous culture through food
Chef Sarah Mierau, a member of the Sayisi Dene First Nation, recently visited θəqiʔ ɫəwʔənəq leləm’ (Red Fish Healing Centre) to provide a cooking demo for clients and celebrate Indigenous culture.
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Clients at Red Fish Healing Centre (θəqiʔ ɫəwʔənəq leləm' in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language) were invited to attend a special event on June 12: a cooking demonstration with celebrated chef Sarah Mierau.
A member of the Sayisi Dene First Nation, chef Sarah brings traditional Indigenous cuisine and nourishment to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike. She is the founder and owner of Tradish, which includes The Ancestor Café—located within the Fort Langley National Historic Site—Tradish food truck, and Tradish Plant Medicine, which includes five delicious varieties of jams.
"Indigenous food and the way that we prepare it is good for healing and wellness when it's done with proper protocols and with respect and love," shares chef Sarah. "The way that we harvest the animal or the vegetables or the plants, and the way we work with it, the love we're putting into it while we're cooking, and how we share it with everybody else as well."
Connecting through food
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Chef Sarah's visit to Red Fish Healing Centre provided an opportunity for Indigenous clients to connect with her through food and celebrate their culture. As she demonstrated how to prepare her recipes for bison burger soup and fry bread, there was sharing and laughing, asking and answering questions.
Chef Sarah says she never thought she could be where she is today. By explaining her history and background to clients, she wanted to show them we all have to start somewhere. And there is hope.
"I really wanted to come here and work with the clients…letting them know that I used to be exactly where you were, and I created a beautiful life for myself and I'm reviving traditions around cultural food, and really just show them that they're very capable of doing the same things. They just need to find out what their passion is and what they want to do."
The soup and fry bread received rave reviews from clients, who shared heartfelt thank yous with the chef as the demonstration came to an end.
"I'm just very honoured and in awe of what Red Fish is doing to bring these traditional foods in," says chef Sarah. "They have been so sweet and respectful and they have the same vision as me, realizing that this is where we need to start the healing, with food and traditions. People come in here at their lowest and then we uplift them and show them your life can be better."
Making an impact
The event on June 12 was months in the making. The idea was sparked last year, when chef Sarah visited Red Fish to educate the facility's cooks on preparing Indigenous food.
"As a non-Indigenous person, I am committed to doing business with Indigenous owned and operated companies, such as chef Sarah's company, Tradish," says Julius Cabrera, director, Food and Environmental Services. "This is an everyday part of our work and I'm glad to say this doesn't feel like work. It's a driving emotion and desire to make things right with Indigenous Peoples."
Jessyl Malabanan, a cook at Red Fish, helped organize the event along with chef Sarah, Julius, and Reza Airlangga, manager, Food Services. Jessyl also acted as chef Sarah's sous chef during the demonstration.
"Chef Sarah has taught me a lot about Indigenous food and culture, having good energy, and putting love in the food," says Jessyl. "We are bringing this learning into our kitchen and are hoping to have an Indigenous meal every week."
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In honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, Red Fish will be offering clients game sausage and wild sockeye salmon—harvested by the Gitanyow First Nations community in northwestern BC—on June 23.