Educating
Increasing awareness & knowledge in the broader community, by serving as content experts in community food security
Indigenous Food Systems
In collaboration with the Whyte Museum, Nakoda AV Club, Bow Valley Food Alliance, and Stoney Nakoda Elders and Knowledge Keepers, these videos were created with the purpose of showcasing food systems knowledge from an Indigenous perspective.
Medicine Walk
Banff is the traditional trading route for a diverse group of Indigenous communities that lived and travelled along the Bow River through the Canadian Rocky Mountain including: Stoney Nakoda, Ktunaxa, Secwépemc, Cree, Blackfoot, Tsuut’ina (Dene), and the Métis. Taking place along the Bow River, Phillomene and Tracey Stevens share stories about plants and animals that were traditionally gathered and hunted in the Bow Valley.
Bannock and Stew
Traditional foods are central to the health and culture of Indigenous people and widely recognized as contributing to physical, social, and spiritual well-being. As traditional activities, such as hunting and eating of wild game meats become uncommon, it is important that traditional knowledge and skills around food are preserved and shared for future generations. We hope this video may inspire you, your family and your community to try a new recipe!
Chef in Apprentice
Dec 28, 2020
Increasing awareness and knowledge around food security and food sovereignty has been an important piece of our work as we try to build capacity in the various communities of the Bow Valley. One of the most recent ways in which we have been able to do this has been through a collaboration with YOWZA! Creative Catering in Canmore through the Chef in Apprentice program. Yuka, the owner of the catering business and long-time member of the BVFA has been able to use her commercial kitchen to teach cooking classes to children aged 8-12. Starting on November 17th, students were able to develop knife skills as they cut, minced and peeled vegetables, prepared a salad and assembled meals.
In early December, due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in our area, this program shifted to an online cooking class series over zoom with pre-packaged food items delivered to participants' homes. The Chef in Apprentice program continued to enhance students’ food skills for the following weeks and even expanded to include families from Banff.
Advertised internally through the affordable services programs across the valley, Yuka has been able to introduce healthy meal and snack ideas, build basic cooking skills, educate about food safety and provide a fun and interactive approach to cooking. We look forward to continuing to work with Yuka in the coming months as we strive to increase awareness and knowledge around food systems, food security, and food sovereignty in the Bow Valley.
“Just wanted to thank you for organizing us the good food box we picked up yesterday. It is a tremendous help to our family, and my 6 months old can try new veggies!”