Food for thought at forum

Food is what fuels us, and for community member Brooke Rice, it’s essential that communities work to ensure that our youngest generations are equipped with the resources they need to have access to nourishing meals, so that they can grow into the next generation of leaders.

That was a message she brought to the Nourishing Futures Forum, a Canada-wide school food forum that took place last week in Montreal, with a field day in Kahnawake for attendees.

“It was so inspiring, and so eye-opening,” Rice said. “We need to be feeding our kids local, nutritious, culturally relevant foods.”

Over three days, more than 500 people came together to talk about policy related to school food, with panel discussions and workshops for attendees to brainstorm a vision for the future.

Rice was an emcee for the event and also took part in a panel discussing Indigenous food sovereignty and local foodways. She shared her experience with her organization Tkà:nios, where she works to further Kahnawake’s own food systems.

On the first day of the conference, she also brought around 80 attendees to Kahnawake to learn more about food sovereignty in the community. Participants attended the Mohawk Trail Longhouse and enjoyed a grazing table of local food prepared by Madison Jacobs, as well as a meal prepared by Chase McGowan, and listened to Elaine Delaronde share her knowledge about food preservation and medicine.

“It’s a really nice way to bring people in who are coming to a national gathering, people from all across Turtle Island who are interested in this and want to come to our community,” Rice said.

The day was rounded out with a trip to Kahnawake’s community garden, where all 80 guests gathered around in an outer circle and collectively planted sunflowers.

“That was a real highlight for me, seeing everyone walk down that dirt road and enter that circle and plant together,” she said.

Ka’nasohon Kevin Deer also took part in the gathering, giving an opening address and setting the tone of the conference.

“We do the Thanksgiving Address to help us understand and ask questions. Where do we come from? Why are we here? What are our rules and responsibilities for when we leave this place one day?” Deer said.

He said that gathering to discuss foodways and the importance of nourishing our futures is imperative.

“We need to try to reconnect as much as possible,” Deer said. “We need to start with our bodies.”

Rice connected with other attendees, many of whom work in implementing policies about food in schools.

“It was really reiterated the importance of our youth and our babies. They come here with pure innocence, peace, and love, they don’t know about anger and grief and resentment and fear,” she said. “I think if we can keep our original food normalized and on their plates, it helps to create a consciousness of who we are.”

She wants youth to be provided with foods that are grown sustainably, and for children to be taught about traditional foodways.

“Those foods came from our creation story. They’ve been in our landscape before those ships came to these shores. Those ecosystems, those organisms are familiar with our bodies,” she said.

“The majority of the time, we’re eating what we can afford and it’s not always healthy or nutritious. We need to think, what are we actually feeding our kids? Do they have the option to eat healthy? And we can go from there.”

[email protected]