First Nations Feast

Last week a First Nations feast was held at the UBC Farm. It was lovingly put together by a group of elders and participants in Vancouver Native Health’s Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden project who worked along with students from the VCC First Nations Culinary Art Program.

The table was laden with an array of dishes mainly gathered from the sea or from the UBC garden itself. One featured item was herring roe on seaweed, a delicacy that has been disappearing from local waters. Other items included crab salad, salmon fresh from the onsite smoker, fresh garden veggies, bannock, and strawberry punch and much more. Desserts of apple sauce and peach-blackberry compote topped off the meal.

The lunch-time feast had several highlights, one of which was the meatball taste test in which participants were challenged to identify, out of two meatballs, which was the one made of elk meat and which one was made with organic beef.

Elders and VCC students also shared memories of their favourite childhood foods and what meaning the feast held for them.

Mary Holmes who runs the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden is hoping to update cooking facilities at the farm. To that end, Slow Food Vancouver, the Urban Aboriginal Garden, and the VCC First Nations Culinary Arts program headed by Ben Genaille are planning a First Nations Feast in August featuring traditional First Nations food.
Proceeds of the feast will go toward kitchen improvements at the UBC Farm and the Slow Food Terra Madre Fund.

To see more about the Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden Project check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RSn9d9pMN8

Stay tuned for registration information.