Ingredients:

Find The South Lake Grill

Website: https://www.thesouthlakegrill.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesouthlakegrill/

Address: 955 Westney Rd S, Ajax, ON

Indigenous food is deeply embedded in Canada’s culture and yet, many people know little about what it is or how to recognize indigenous foods. Indigenous foods and food culture are often left out of the conversation in Canada. This food is just as important as Quebec’s classic poutine to Canadian cuisine but is rarely discussed.

Indigenous food has a close tie to seasons and local eating. For Indigenous people, their food is a gift from Creator and will grow best where they are based. Food systems that are based on where they live and what is around them are most sustainable and will help an area’s locale and people live well.

Indigenous cuisine, naturally, is meant to be a sustainable practice. Originally, people hunted their own meat, gathered and foraged fruits, vegetables, and other plants, and built their diet around what was around them.

These days, Indigenous cuisine has been often forgotten as Canada’s mosaic of cultures grows. However, we should highlight and celebrate the over 1.67 million Indigenous people in Canada and recognize their food and way of living as the first Canadian culture.

Let’s highlight Indigenous food and culture, and look for ways that we can introduce its practices and cuisine into our everyday life. By becoming more aware, we can become more appreciative of the first Canadian culture.

What is Indigenous Food and Cuisine?

Indigenous food has been around before most of history and is the very basis of what Canada’s culture is based on.

Inspired by our land, forests, rivers, and oceans, Indigenous culture is based on living in balance with your surroundings and respecting all forms of life. In cooking, that means focusing on no-waste, head-to-tail cooking.

Traditionally, the diet of Indigenous people included wild game like fish, birds, moose, caribou, elk, seal, whale buffalo, and rabbits. People would also grow corn, squash, fiddleheads, wild rice, nuts, and wild berries, while also foraging for other plants in their areas. Together, these compose most of the ingredients used in Indigenous cuisine.

One of the major staples of Indigenous food is the Three Sisters: the name given to corn, beans, and squash. These three plants would be grown together, as they complement each other and helped each other flourish. Corn stalks offer beans a place to climb and grow, beans provide nitrogen to help corn roots, and squash leaves provide shade and mulch to help hold moisture in the ground and deter weeds from growing.

Over the many years of the erasure of Indigenous culture, much of it was lost. These days, many are working to recollect information that has been lost over the years, with chefs like America’s Sean Sherman creating a cookbook and collective called the Sioux Chef, working to reclaim Indigenous culture and revitalize Indigenous cuisine in the modern menu.

Indigenous Restaurants in Canada

If you’re looking to support the Indigenous community, there’s no better way than by visiting one of the many Indigenous restaurants and cultural centres across the country. These locales offer highlights of Indigenous cuisine, letting you try a glimpse of their culture. They’re also helping to support Indigenous communities by providing jobs and income, as well as promoting their history and culture—and they’re doing it all while serving delicious food!

Here are some of our favourites:

Tea N Bannock in Toronto, ON for the last 10 years has been serving food created by Indigenous and traditional chefs. Their cuisine shows true Indigenous flavours and highlights bison steak, three sisters soup, and salmon and bison burgers. Their menu makes Indigenous food that can be enjoyed by all, in both familiar and new ways!

Feast Café & Bistro in Winnipeg, MB, where the head chef Christa, a member of Peguis First Nation has created a restaurant focused on community and sharing modern dishes rooted in traditional First Nation cuisine. Feast serves dishes like bison ribs, lemon pepper pickerel, and Bannock pizzas to the public, and celebrates serving food grown locally.

Aboriginal Fusion in Winnipeg, MB, is a food truck serving delicious, fast-food-inspired Indigenous treats. Chef Tara Hall serves dishes like a Saskatoon berry cheesecake, Bannock bison burger, and Bannock taco combining classic fast-food favourites with her Pinaymootang First Nation culture.

Kekuli Café, a franchise across British Columbia, features delicious Bannock across its menu. Served with toppings like venison and saskatoon BBQ sauce for dinner and wild salmon and eggs for breakfast, this restaurant creates handmade Bannock and buns in-house. The owners, Sharon Bond-Hogg and Darren Hogg have worked together to create a traditional Aboriginal ambience, to ensure that Aboriginal culture is shared and treasured.

How to be Inspired by Indigenous Canadian Culture

To share your appreciation for Indigenous Canadian culture, we encourage you to consider using some of the ingredients often used in Indigenous cooking or consider using a new recipe to feature this cuisine at your restaurant.

Try using ingredients like wild salmon, or local bison as a protein for an entrée dish. Wild rice is the perfect side for these dishes, and can be found at the Wholesale Club.

If you want to try using berries like Saskatoon berries or local blueberries, try creating a berry salad with a maple vinaigrette, or try making a delicious berry grunt.

Indigenous meals often include the traditional Bannock, and the three sisters. Many restaurants offer a Three Sisters’ Soup, made from squash, beans, and corn. You can also try making Bannock with this recipe, created by one of Canada’s own Indigenous chefs, Tara Hall.

There are several other ways that you can appreciate and celebrate Indigenous culture in your kitchen. Practice sustainable and local cooking by shopping from local suppliers, or purchase ingredients that are local and in-season where you can. Indigenous culture is focused on respecting the environment and community around you, and that’s a practice we can all work on together. For more information about how to include more sustainable practices in your restaurant, read our blog with helpful tips.

Recognizing Indigenous food and culture as part of Canada’s culture is a growing practice that you can take part in. Include Indigenous food, practices, and recipes in your restaurant and show your appreciation for this traditional culture!

If you’re a restaurant owner or chef who is looking to prepare more Indigenous dishes, shop the Wholesale Club for fresh ingredients at great prices!

Ingredients:

Directions

1. Mix ingredients together except the shrimp and cook over medium-low heat, until vegetables are cooked and curry is fragrant.
2. Cook shrimp in a pan with oil.
3. Serve shrimp and curry with rice, fried plantains, and vegetables.

Find D&M Caribbean Flava

Website: https://www.dmcaribbeanflava.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DM-Caribbean-Flava-360238661611206/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dmcaribbeanflava/

Address: 885 Molson St Unit 5, Winnipeg, MB

Chef Q & A

1. When did you start cooking? How did your passion for food begin?

I began cooking at age 12, cooking with my grandma when I lived in Jamaica.

2. What is your favourite dish to make?

I love to make jerk pork and jerk chicken.

3. What are your favourite ingredients to work with? What ingredients do you shop for at Wholesale Club?

My favourite ingredients are shrimp, coconut milk, Jamaican yellow yams, and plantain. I also love cooking with Jamaican jerk seasoning, of course.

4. If you were trapped on a deserted island for the rest of time and could only eat three types of food, what would you choose to eat?

The three items I would choose to eat are fish, fruit, and vegetables.

Find D&M Caribbean Flava

Website: https://www.dmcaribbeanflava.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DM-Caribbean-Flava-360238661611206/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dmcaribbeanflava/

Address: 885 Molson St Unit 5, Winnipeg, MB

Ingredients:

Directions

Pork Butt

Rub pork butt with ¼ cup maple syrup, ¼ cup brown sugar, grainy mustard, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Set the oven to 275 and cook for 10 hours, covered. Let cool for a minimum of 30 minutes, then remove the bone and shred. Once shredded, add ¼ cup maple syrup and ¼ cup brown sugar. Cover and place in the oven for another 25 minutes.

Caramelized Onions

Thinly slice white onions. Add to a pot with butter, lard, and salt. Cook onions on low/medium heat for approximately one hour, or until browned and caramelized.

Crispy Pickled Jalapeños

Soak jalapeños in buttermilk. In a separate bowl, mix flour and cornmeal. Remove jalapeños from buttermilk and place in flour mixture to coat. Fry for three minutes, or until golden brown.

Fries

Cut fries to size. Rinse with cold water and dry. Blanch in a 250-degree fryer for six minutes. Cool for a minimum of two hours. Refry at 350 degrees in the fryer for 5 minutes and serve.

Gravy

Reconstitute the Berthelet poutine gravy and keep warm.

Assemble the fries, cheese curds, and gravy. Top with maple pulled pork, caramelized onions, crispy jalapeños, and sliced green onion.

Find Snack Shack

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesnackshackangus/

Address: 320 Yonge St, Barrie, ON

Chef Q & A

1. When did you first start cooking?

I started cooking as a teenager. I then owned three A&W franchise locations and from there decided to open the Snack Shack.

2. How did your passion for food begin?

It all started with the love for eating great tasting food.

3. What is your favourite dish to make?

My favourite poutine is the dill pickle poutine!

4. What are your favourite ingredients to cook with? What ingredients do you shop for at Wholesale Club?

I shop in all departments of Wholesale Club for fresh produce, pork butt, chicken breast, spices, beverages, and most importantly, Bertholet gravy.

5. If you were trapped on a deserted island for the rest of time and could only eat three types of food, what would you choose to eat?

I would eat butter chicken, pasta, and mala chicken.

Find Snack Shack

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesnackshackangus/

Address: 320 Yonge St, Barrie, ON

Chef Bio

I am First Nations from Pinaymootang First Nation in Manitoba, and am the eldest of eight siblings. I grew up in the Reserve in the care of my grandparents who taught me basic life skills and made sure I went to school every day. After the passing of my grandparents, I lived in the care of my auntie whom I refer to as my mother, Valerie Hall. In her home, she taught me how to help with chores, cooking, cleaning, and helping take care of my other siblings.

I am a Red Seal Chef, and the owner of Aboriginal Fusion food truck, which I started after deciding to work for myself. I graduated from the Red River College Culinary Arts program and completed an apprenticeship and passed my Red Seal exams.

I run my food truck seasonally through April to October.

Chef Q&A

1. What is your earliest food memory?

I remember watching my granny making fresh saskatoon jam over a wood stove and getting a nice, big spoonful once it cooled down.

2. Did anyone inspire you to become a chef?

I had two big inspirations to get into cooking professionally. One was my late brother, Daniel, who lived with me when I first moved to Winnipeg. He used to always tell me that I could be on a cooking show, or that I should own a restaurant.

Then there was my boyfriend’s late auntie, Arlene Karol. I used to cook barbecue and send her food. On her deathbed, she made me promise to enroll in college for the culinary arts. Shortly after she passed away I received a call saying they had an opening, and I could start in January.

Now my inspiration is my boyfriend and my kids, friends and family, and everyone one of my loyal customers who follow the food truck and support us wherever we go.

3. What are your favourite ingredients to cook with? What are your favourite ingredients to pick up at Wholesale Club?

I love working with chicken and turkey, and anything to do with baking.

Almost everything I purchase comes directly from Wholesale Club except my bison meat, saskatoon berries, and pickerel. All my packaging, cleaning products, kitchen wares, and day-to-day items I get from Wholesale Club. I love shopping there for their prices and the great deals they have.

4. What is the food like at your restaurant? What are some of your signature dishes?

The best description for my food is traditional Indigenous eats with a homestyle feel, served from a food truck. My signature dishes are the fried bison burger with fries, and the Guinness beer-battered pickerel with seasoned fries, lime slaw, and tartar sauce.

5. What tips would you have for someone who is inspired to open their own restaurant?

Think of every possible scenario and every possible cost.

Go for it. Not knowing what could’ve been hurts more than failing or not trying.

Find Aboriginal Fusion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aboriginalfusion/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aboriginalfusion/

TikTok: @aboriginalfusionqueen