Revitalizing Native Foodways and Food Sovereignty in the North Bay

ANYONE WHO HAS spent time hiking, exploring or just passing through Northern California is familiar with its iconic hills dotted with groves of ancient oak and bay trees. These vistas provide a glimpse of how our region might have looked long ago—before freeways cut through the rolling hills, before tracts of houses were built, before cities were developed, before Europeans occupied the land of the original Indigenous peoples. These resilient and mighty trees provide a stunning visual backdrop for us all, but for the Native Miwok and Pomo of our region they represent much more: a connection to the earth, a link to tradition and a fundamental source of nourishment.

Acorns from these oaks were once so essential that they made up 50% of the Native peoples’ diet. The region’s woodlands were also rich with bay nuts, buckeyes, manzanita berries, blackberries, wild mushrooms and wild greens. Deer, bear, elk and quail roamed the forests, and the waterways teemed with salmon, trout and shellfish, as well as being a source of salt and seaweed. Self-sufficient Indigenous communities tended, gathered and hunted using sustainable and ecologically sound practices, steeped in tradition informed by ancient wisdom.

While wild food is still plentiful in some areas of our region, access is often difficult and Native peoples’ diets are no longer what they used to be. Since the arrival of Europeans, and continuing through current times, Native ways of life—including traditional foodways—have been persistently disrupted to the point of decimation. Ties to ancestral stories, ecological knowledge and practices related to land and food have been interrupted due to forced assimilation and land loss. Largely as a result of these factors, today’s Native communities suffer from high rates of obesity and diabetes, while at the same time they struggle with hunger and food insecurity.

Despite the profound challenges facing their communities, two Native-led groups in the North Bay are finding innovative ways to restore and promote Native foodways and food sovereignty.

CALIFORNIA INDIAN MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER

“Food sovereignty is the right of people to define and reclaim what food is in their community,” says Nicole Lim (Pomo), executive director of the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center (CIMCC) in Santa Rosa. CIMCC educates the public about the history, culture and contemporary life of California Indians through its exhibits, which portray these subjects from a Native perspective. Additional programs serve to preserve and protect Native culture and traditions and provide job training and education.

CIMCC’s service-learning group, Native Youth Ambassadors (NYA), is made up of Pomo and Miwok youth working to strengthen their tribal identity and cultural knowledge. Since the group began in 2010, NYA projects have included the development of a Pomo language app and documenting cultural education. In recent years, they have turned their attention to the issue of food sovereignty.

The focus on food is an obvious one for Lim, who echoes local tribal community member Meyo Marufo’s powerful sentiment, “Kill the food, kill the culture.” Lim’s goals with this work are to build up access, skills and knowledge base within Native communities, and also to educate the public at large. “We hope people will engage in allyship that supports our efforts.”

ACORN BITES

In 2016, NYA embarked upon an extensive research project to assess Native communities’ access to healthy food, familiarity with traditional foods and cultural knowledge around foodways. The findings showed that while most tribal community members have a strong interest in healthy traditional foods, there are many obstacles to obtaining them, including lack of ancestral knowledge, cost and difficulty in accessing the land on which it grows.

One very bright idea that came out of their research was the production of what the group named Acorn Bites, a nutritious snack bar made from local acorn flour. Guided by tribal elders and cultural educators, the youth have learned traditional methods—as well as cultural protocols—for harvesting and processing acorns. Due to their high levels of tannins “acorns often have a bad rap, but we were pleasantly surprised,” says Lim. When they are properly soaked, leeched of their tannins, dried and ground, acorns have a nutty, earthy flavor. Plus, acorns are high in fiber; protein; vitamins C, A and E; calcium; potassium and antioxidants. Most notably, they are low on the glycemic index and may help reduce blood sugar and potentially thwart diabetes.

NYA members are active in the entire process of producing Acorn Bites, from collecting and processing acorns to making and selling Acorn Bites, which they do through Native networks and at local farmers’ markets. The primary barrier the group faces as they strive to increase production is sourcing enough acorns to make the acorn flour. By developing partnerships with local municipalities and landowners, as well as advocating for legislation, they are working to expand access for their community to their own ancestral lands and this vital food source.

The Acorn Bites project serves many purposes all in one small but mighty bite: It works to restore preference for traditional foods, preserves cultural knowledge and creates a modern and accessible connection to the ancient and highly nutritious acorn. The focus on food sovereignty has been powerful. “We’ve learned a lot about how we heal ourselves and our community,” says Lim.

THE CULTURAL CONSERVANCY

The San Francisco–based Native-led nonprofit The Cultural Conservancy also works to protect and restore Native lands and cultures. The organization started 35 years ago in Marin County, focusing on the protection and conservation of sacred lands. Today, the organization works primarily to revitalize and preserve Indigenous lands and cultures through Native foods and land revitalization. Melissa Nelson, the organization’s president and CEO, believes that there is a “critical need to uplift Indigenous peoples in this era,” because, in her mind, many of the problems facing our modern world can be solved by looking to traditional ecological knowledge and land-based practices. Nelson, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, says much of the conservancy’s work is focused on foodways because “food is the best connector between nature and culture.”

The Cultural Conservancy co-stewards an organic farm; produces workshops with Indigenous chefs, nutritionists, Indigenous knowledge holders and organic farmers; and maintains a Native seed library. The organization produces Native media and hosts a thought-provoking podcast, The Native Seed Pod.

Since 2014, they have also distributed fresh produce to Native communities in the Bay Area through a network of “hubs,” primarily urban Indian community centers and health centers. The produce is donated by partner farms like the San Francisco Zen Center’s Green Gulch Farm in Marin, as well as being grown on the College of Marin’s Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden (IVOFG).