Traditional foods in 2018: How can we incorporate them into our schools?
By Tiffany Stuart
Having salmon, acorn, camas and
seaweed in the city for dinner tonight? Yes!
Traditional Native American foods
has been a focus for me this term in my
food in schools class at the University of
Oregon. As a doctoral student, I have been
able to navigate my studies in my interest.
Questions I posed to my research are:
1. How can traditional foods be incor-
porated into school foods?
2. What are barriers to having traditional
foods taught in schools and what are
some solutions?
Themes I would like to bring out in
my studies this term are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Siletz- Dee-ni Language Class
Tribal Program Events
Individual Learning
Family Learning
We all have busy lives. I sure do as a
single mom and going to school. I had to
set my mind that I was going to language
classes with Bud Lane at the Eugene Area
Office. Even though I had some anxiety
about going because I wasn’t sure my boy
would listen or if it was too late in the
evening for my family, I still went.
After I got there, things were OK for
me. Everyone at the class was kind and
felt like family having a meal together and
then learning about our language. Getting
to the class was a barrier I faced this term.
With prayer and planning, I was able to
move past it.
Without our words from our ances-
tors, we can’t have our dances. Without
our dances, we can’t pray for our food and
everything the Creator has given us (the
purpose of our dances). Our language
must be learned – http://siletz.swarth-
more.edu/ is the website from the Tribe.
Also, Carson and Jerome Viles developed
this website – https://ildarchive.org/index.
php?group=nuuda. Many languages were
spoken by our ancestors.
The second theme I would like to talk
about is Tribal program events. The first
event I went to this term was with Nick
Viles and Kathy Kentta.
My son, Nayson Tooya, and I went
with other Tribal members to gather hazel
sticks. These sticks are used to make bas-
kets, such as the basket caps we wear in
our dances, baby baskets, fish traps and
gathering baskets for foods such as ber-
ries or camas. Gathering hazel sticks links
right back to our traditional foods.
Another Tribal event I attended was
with Nick and Kathy to gather camas.
Again I had to make it a priority to go. I
almost decided not to go because of the
pressure of my doctoral program, but I
worked it out and made the trip.
Camas is a beautiful flower that our
ancestors ate the root or bulb of the flower
that was underground. Digging up this
root and then cooking it for 14 hours made
d
Dental Coloring Contest Winner
The Siletz Community Dental Clinic would like to congratulate
David Fuentes and Tenaya Cordova on being our coloring contest
winners! Because of their efforts to “bling” out a coloring page,
they were rewarded with a Sonicare toothbrush.
If you are between the ages of 5-14, you too will have a chance to
win! Come pick up your coloring page at the Siletz Community
Health Dental Clinic and express your creativity. Submissions for
the next contest must be received before Sept. 30 at 5 p.m. One
winner selected from ages 5-8 and one winner selected from ages
9-14 will receive a Sonicare toothbrush. One entry per patient per
contest, please. In order to maximize the oral health of the
community through these prizes, a patient can only win the
contest once through the duration of the contest. Good luck and
don’t forget … brush twice a day and floss daily!
me appreciate what our ancestors had to
go through to have food.
The third theme was my own learn-
ing. I took upon myself to learn about
traditional foods. I interviewed multiple
people, including elders, to learn about the
camas plant and other traditional foods.
One day I interviewed a University of
Oregon science professor and her husband
who is a botanist (scientist who studies
plants). They are working on a prairie
restoration project at a local school in
Eugene. A barrier to growing the camas
and other native plants is that the school
district cuts down the grass. So develop-
ing a relationship with your school and
teaching of the importance of the area is
important.
After interviews, I wrote a grant for
Indian education programs to use to pur-
chase camas bulbs and supplies to make
raised beds or planters.
How can traditional foods be incor-
porated into school foods? This was my
driving question. The idea is to spark the
interest in students so they will attend a
trip to gather camas or even make their
own garden of camas at the school or
their home. Also, we plan to harvest some
seeds in June or July so teachers can plant
them with their students and they can see
them grow.
The fourth theme was family learn-
ing. My son and I created a poster for our
house. Using the online language system,
we were able to look up the phrase “I
tasted”… “silh-nish.” Then we could use
this phrase many times while we try new
foods in our home or at school.
Nayson helped draw pictures of our
traditional foods. I went to Nayson’s kin-
dergarten classroom and we had a tradi-
tional foods tasting day. We tasted smoked
salmon, seaweed, acorn mush and camas.
The salmon and sea weed were bought
at Costco. The acorns we gathered in
September and dried them all school year.
Then I asked myself how do I get
traditional foods knowledge to our youth
who don’t have families who do that. Here
is my suggestion. If you are a fisherman
or hunter, offer to come to your child’s
classroom to share if you feel comfort-
able. Maybe they are learning parts of the
animals or writing about their experiences
hunting. Tell your child’s teacher right at
the beginning of the year that you would
be willing to come and share.
Or maybe your family goes out and
gathers huckleberries. I know some gath-
ering and hunting spots are sacred and not
shared. The students don’t need to know
every single detail of your traditional food
experience, but sharing something is how
we can continue our ancestral knowledge.
To incorporate Native American tra-
ditional foods of the Northwest into our
schools we should have:
1. Taste testing days
2. Field trips (gather camas, acorns,
clams and berries, or fishing trips)
3. Reading materials about traditional
foods
4. Hands-on curriculum
5. School garden (planting camas, wild
onion and other herbs)
The field trips can be connected
back to learning in the school. Research
has shown the greater the experiences
for students, the higher the test scores.
These field trips might be within walking
distance or on a bus. They could be with
a special interest group in the school (like
a club) or the entire class. I suggest doing
it to make it work for you.
For reading materials on traditional
foods, I started creating mini-books for stu-
dents to read. You can access these books
at teacherspayteachers.com. I also gave
these books to Indian education specialists
to teach our Native children about them.
To bring hands-on curriculum to the
school, I created samples of the foods that
can be kept frozen and shown to students
when they are ready for that lesson. I bought
small beading containers that fit an acorn, an
acorn processed, and dry and cooked camas.
You can email me (tiffany.wisdom@
yahoo.com) if you want a digital copy of
the mini-books and/or the full article with
sited sources and supporting evidence for
each theme.
This is for our people.
Change in Siletz Clinic check-in times
The Siletz Clinic asks all patients with appointments to check in 15 minutes
prior to your scheduled appointment time. This allows for any necessary paper-
work to be completed prior to your appointment with your provider. Thank you!
4
•
Siletz News
•
August 2018