Last Friday Aboriginal Tourism of BC hosted a sampling of first nations food and culture at the BC Showcase Centre at Robson Square. While crowds seeking family entertainment at the Olympics packed the underground ice rink to watch skating mascots, jugglers, and native dancers, we snacked on muskox and pemmican and drank labrador tea. The showcase center is a compact series of rooms that has been outfitted with natural and/or recycled materials as well as a series of videos and interactive displays. Polished wooden planks hanging from the ceiling have all been chosen from specific regions around the province. By choosing a region on a computer screen you can find the plank from that region, including one or two pieces of the distinctive blue pine beetle-affected wood.
While chatting with provincial MLA's and other writers in attendance we were served a refreshing drink made of cranberries and elderflower juice toppled with "hoshum" or soapberry foam. Nisga'a Nation dancers from the Nass valley in Northern BC welcomed us into the presentation space by drumming in four part harmony. Chills went though my spine as I passed the drummers in their beautiful button blanket capes and woven cedar hats. We passed through a hallway which illuminated by a series of screens that show symbolic images of BC industries which are affected by the body heat of the people passing next to them.
We were made to feel welcome by more singers and dancers and invited to eat the lovely food that had been prepared from ingredients used in first nations cuisine prepared by chef Daryl Nagata who is currently executive chef of the Pan Pacific Hotel Vancouver. I remember him as one of the first chefs I read about in Vancouver having a garden-to-table relationship when had a rooftop garden at his former job in the Waterfront Hotel. I thought it a bit strange that the event hadn't been catered by an aboriginal chef, but I'm guessing they're all busy at the other Olympic pavilions focusing on first nations culture. (Speaking of which, Cassandra Anderton, who writes for her website
Good Life Vancouver tipped me off to the fact that the Kanata Cuisine Aboriginal Feast is now on for half price (originally $245) and with pairings from Nk' Mip winery, it looks to be a good dinner. See the
web site for details.)
The food was presented buffet-style on carved wooden paddles and slabs of slate. Everything was delicious, and the plates we used were thinly sliced rounds of alder. Since learning about pemmican in grade five, I've always wanted to taste it, and finally my dream came true with Nagata's woodland buffalo and cherry pemmican on Leslie Stowe crackers. Sweet and rich, it's a good food to put fire in the belly. Equally hearty was the bison and wild boar sausage and the juicy and tender slices of herb-crusted musk ox, another first for me. The musk ox (which was my favorite) is sourced from Basin island in Nunavut, which has a carefully managed population of the wild animals. The hides are sent to Peru to be processed where the underfur, or
qiviut is made into a fine wool which is claimed to be "stronger than sheep's wool and eight times warmer than cashmere," according to the Nunavut Development Corporation's web site.
The traditional Salish Cedar Salmon had a deep, smokey flavor, and the meat was moist and tender. The farmed smoked sturgeon served with its jade green roe was beautifully presented and equally tasty as the salmon, although I wonder about the ecological implications of eating sturgeon, whether it is wild or farmed.
The Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC is actually a not for profit organization that seeks to give professional development and support to existing and budding aboriginal entrepreneurs. The current focus of the association is on providing authentic aboriginal cultural experiences to tourists. The organization even goes to far as to try to develop a set of criteria of what authentic means--a contentious task, I would think. The website gives tourists an interesting set of options for those seeking tours of native art galleries, museums, interpretation centers, wineries, salmon feasts, etc. It's a good tool to use when you are planning a holiday in British Columbia and you want to support Aboriginal businesses. (I know I do my bit in Vancouver by drinking our fair share of
In' Mip wine and
Cherry Point Vineyard's blackberry port.)
Half Moon Woman showed us how to do birch bark biting by folding the bark into a triangle and biting down on it to create patterns. Pat Bruderer is self-taught and has been passing the tradition down to successive generations so the art will not be lost. In fact, this is the theme of Aboriginal Tourism of BC: "Our story. Your experience."
One of the directors of Aboriginal Tourism of BC, Dr. Linnea Battel says that the aboriginal people have a history of generosity and sharing in their culture, and she fully endorses the pride of promoting the excellence of aboriginal history and contemporary cultural practice in BC. She is one of those people with a warm, open face that one is drawn to so it is appropriate that her given name means "She Who Brings the Sun," and so we have her to thank for all this fabulous weather!
After the welcoming speeches, we are invited to have tea prepared by Douglas Green who harvest native medicinal plants from the Chilcotin region of BC. He has brought Labrador Tea leaves, which are more potent because they have been harvested from a high elevation. He breaks the dried leaves up ahead of time so they will steep a bit better, and recommends a fifteen minute steeping time. The tea has a sedative effect and it is good for congestion, among other health benefits. However, there are toxicity warnings--all the more reason to trust an authentic native medicinal expert.
I had been looking for any press besides those from Canada at this event, and noticed only one sullen looking German writer. However, suddenly the room is abuzz because the BBC camera is in the building and the camera is rolling. Much fuss is being made over whether or not the Labrador tea is ready to serve. It seems we're still firmly entrenched in our colonial past, anxious for the loyal subjects to serve tea to the BBC. La plus ça change....
Last Friday Aboriginal Tourism of BC hosted a sampling of first nations food and culture at the BC Showcase Centre at Robson Square. While crowds seeking family entertainment at the Olympics packed the underground ice rink to watch skating mascots, jugglers, and native dancers, we snacked on muskox and pemmican and drank labrador tea. The showcase center is a compact series of rooms that has been outfitted with natural and/or recycled materials as well as a series of videos and interactive displays. Polished wooden planks hanging from the ceiling have all been chosen from specific regions around the province. By choosing a region on a computer screen you can find the plank from that region, including one or two pieces of the distinctive blue pine beetle-affected wood.
While chatting with provincial MLA's and other writers in attendance we were served a refreshing drink made of cranberries and elderflower juice toppled with "hoshum" or soapberry foam. Nisga'a Nation dancers from the Nass valley in Northern BC welcomed us into the presentation space by drumming in four part harmony. Chills went though my spine as I passed the drummers in their beautiful button blanket capes and woven cedar hats. We passed through a hallway which illuminated by a series of screens that show symbolic images of BC industries which are affected by the body heat of the people passing next to them.
We were made to feel welcome by more singers and dancers and invited to eat the lovely food that had been prepared from ingredients used in first nations cuisine prepared by chef Daryl Nagata who is currently executive chef of the Pan Pacific Hotel Vancouver. I remember him as one of the first chefs I read about in Vancouver having a garden-to-table relationship when had a rooftop garden at his former job in the Waterfront Hotel. I thought it a bit strange that the event hadn't been catered by an aboriginal chef, but I'm guessing they're all busy at the other Olympic pavilions focusing on first nations culture. (Speaking of which, Cassandra Anderton, who writes for her website Good Life Vancouver tipped me off to the fact that the Kanata Cuisine Aboriginal Feast is now on for half price (originally $245) and with pairings from Nk' Mip winery, it looks to be a good dinner. See the web site for details.)
The food was presented buffet-style on carved wooden paddles and slabs of slate. Everything was delicious, and the plates we used were thinly sliced rounds of alder. Since learning about pemmican in grade five, I've always wanted to taste it, and finally my dream came true with Nagata's woodland buffalo and cherry pemmican on Leslie Stowe crackers. Sweet and rich, it's a good food to put fire in the belly. Equally hearty was the bison and wild boar sausage and the juicy and tender slices of herb-crusted musk ox, another first for me. The musk ox (which was my favorite) is sourced from Basin island in Nunavut, which has a carefully managed population of the wild animals. The hides are sent to Peru to be processed where the underfur, or qiviut is made into a fine wool which is claimed to be "stronger than sheep's wool and eight times warmer than cashmere," according to the Nunavut Development Corporation's web site.
The traditional Salish Cedar Salmon had a deep, smokey flavor, and the meat was moist and tender. The farmed smoked sturgeon served with its jade green roe was beautifully presented and equally tasty as the salmon, although I wonder about the ecological implications of eating sturgeon, whether it is wild or farmed.
The Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC is actually a not for profit organization that seeks to give professional development and support to existing and budding aboriginal entrepreneurs. The current focus of the association is on providing authentic aboriginal cultural experiences to tourists. The organization even goes to far as to try to develop a set of criteria of what authentic means--a contentious task, I would think. The website gives tourists an interesting set of options for those seeking tours of native art galleries, museums, interpretation centers, wineries, salmon feasts, etc. It's a good tool to use when you are planning a holiday in British Columbia and you want to support Aboriginal businesses. (I know I do my bit in Vancouver by drinking our fair share of In' Mip wine and Cherry Point Vineyard's blackberry port.)
Half Moon Woman showed us how to do birch bark biting by folding the bark into a triangle and biting down on it to create patterns. Pat Bruderer is self-taught and has been passing the tradition down to successive generations so the art will not be lost. In fact, this is the theme of Aboriginal Tourism of BC: "Our story. Your experience."
One of the directors of Aboriginal Tourism of BC, Dr. Linnea Battel says that the aboriginal people have a history of generosity and sharing in their culture, and she fully endorses the pride of promoting the excellence of aboriginal history and contemporary cultural practice in BC. She is one of those people with a warm, open face that one is drawn to so it is appropriate that her given name means "She Who Brings the Sun," and so we have her to thank for all this fabulous weather!
After the welcoming speeches, we are invited to have tea prepared by Douglas Green who harvest native medicinal plants from the Chilcotin region of BC. He has brought Labrador Tea leaves, which are more potent because they have been harvested from a high elevation. He breaks the dried leaves up ahead of time so they will steep a bit better, and recommends a fifteen minute steeping time. The tea has a sedative effect and it is good for congestion, among other health benefits. However, there are toxicity warnings--all the more reason to trust an authentic native medicinal expert.
I had been looking for any press besides those from Canada at this event, and noticed only one sullen looking German writer. However, suddenly the room is abuzz because the BBC camera is in the building and the camera is rolling. Much fuss is being made over whether or not the Labrador tea is ready to serve. It seems we're still firmly entrenched in our colonial past, anxious for the loyal subjects to serve tea to the BBC. La plus ça change....
