Food Security, Celebrity Chef On Symposium Agenda

Food Security, Celebrity Chef On Symposium Agenda

Friday, June 05, 2009 at 13:36

 

 

Food security is one of the topics today in Saskatoon at the North American Indigenous Food Symposium.

 

Priscilla Settee says she’s been a food activist for about 30 years.

 

She says that Indigenous people are not as healthy as they once were, that much of that stems from poverty.

 

But Settee says poverty does not necessarily mean people have to eat cheaper, packaged foods, such as macaroni.

 

She says that growing community gardens — such as the ones that she grew up with in Cumberland House — is a tradition that can be revived.

 

Settee says people also need to support locally grown food, rather than purchasing out-of-season fruits and vegetables that have travelled hundreds or even thousands of miles, while being refrigerated.

 

Meanwhile, a well-known chef took time out from his busy schedule yesterday to visit the Muskoday First Nation, which played host to the first day of the symposium.

 

David Wolfman hosts a show on APTN where he combines traditional food with emerging culinary practises.

 

He says he focuses on trying to teach people that it doesn’t take much to make a really good meal.

 

He encourages everyone to put some time and effort into the food they cook, no matter how simple or basic the meal.

 

His visit to the reserve officially kicked off the symposium.

 

The symposium continues today and tomorrow in Saskatoon.