Nourish has launched a Digital Resource Bundle as part of Food is Our Medicine, a rich collection of readings, recordings, videos, and other multimedia tools to help you dive deeper into reconciliation, Indigenous Foodways, current programming and policy that are happening in health care institutions and communities across Canada.
We recently sat down for a chat with Tessie Harris, a registered dietitian, past Nourish Innovator, and a member of the Indigenous & Allies Advisory (IAA). She has spent the past few months working with the IAA and the Nourish team to put together the Digital Resource Bundle.
NOURISH (N): Tessie, tell us about the process.
TESSIE HARRIS (TH): The vision for the resource library was to collect, acknowledge and highlight a landscape of resources that explore and support Indigenous Foodways. Many Indigenous Peoples, communities, and organizations have generously created the resources featured here, sharing their experiences, guidance and stories. These resources are gifts, and highlight the diversity and intricacies of Indigenous foodways as well as illustrate how food is such a valued part of culture, relationships, wellness, and community.
N: What message do you have to share with other dietitians and health care professionals?
TH: In healthcare, as we hear and learn more about cultural humility, we acknowledge the need for decolonization and transformation in healthcare to provide safer experiences for Indigenous patients and communities. However, many people are thinking, "I don't know where to start. I have questions and I don't know who to ask. I want to know more." It can be overwhelming to get started on your learning journey. The resources in the digital bundle can provide much guidance and context. I also highly encourage that people reach out locally to find answers that reflect their community.
As a settler health care professional, I recognize that I have so much to learn and unlearn about Indigenous wellbeing and worldviews. I know that, personally, I’ll explore this collection of resources to help shift my practice and priorities to be more mindful of, and create space for, Indigenous ways of knowing and being. The Indigenous Foodways Digital Resource Bundle brings together diverse perspectives, examples and tools that support my understanding of how I can provide more culturally mindful care to Indigenous clients - whether through food services or patient care.
“The Indigenous Foodways Digital Resource Bundle brings together diverse perspectives, examples and tools that support my understanding of how I can provide more culturally mindful care to Indigenous clients.”
N: What possible impact do you see the Digital Resource Bundle having?
TH: When we learn more, listen more, and take a step back in our ways of thinking and doing, we find capacity and opportunities for change. Providing culturally mindful care is about more than surface level changes, such as substituting an Indigenous menu item in place of a Western one. The deeper levels of work, to deconstruct and transform health care, relies on the knowledge and involvement of Indigeneous peoples and communities, in relationship and partnership with health organizations and government. This collection of resources is a great place to start for health care staff to better understand these systems and appropriate ways forward.
By offering local and traditional foods in our facilities, we honour the land and waters that surround us, we acknowledge the culture and values of our community, we support our local economy, and we ensure that our patients are nourished and supported in their health and wellbeing.
“By offering local and traditional foods in our facilities, we honour the land and waters that surround us, we acknowledge the culture and values of our community, we support our local economy, and we ensure that our patients are nourished and supported in their health and wellbeing."
This looks different in every facility and every community. Building respectful, reciprocal relationships locally is always the first step. But the resources in the digital bundle can help provide ideas, guidance, valuable information and even some frameworks and tools to facilitate this process.
N: What are some of your favourite resources in the Digital Resource Bundle?
TH: I love listening to and reading stories about food, so some of my favourite resources are Corn Soup, Stories from the Land by Ryan McMahon, and Corn Tastes Better on the Honor System by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Both pieces are inspired by and celebrate corn as a traditional food, but each account is dynamic, different and specific. They highlight the diversity of Indigenous foodways, even if they seem similar from the outside. I also love the Traditional Food Guide created last year by Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe’iyewigamig Health Access Center, which draws upon local, traditional knowledge around harvesting, wellness and self-determination, and demonstrates the values that underlay traditional food systems.
There are several other examples of community specific food guides, and it’s interesting to see the diversity of foods and practices. There are also many fantastic reports that explore and explain the complex systems that intersect and create multi-layered barriers to accessing traditional foods and culturally safer care, such as Towards Improving Traditional Food Access for Urban Indigenous People and the Indigenous Health Primer. Also, I encourage checking out the Honoring our Strengths, Culture as Intervention resource; although the program’s focus is on overcoming addictions, the principles and teachings shared are widely applicable and really powerful. There is so much to read, engage with, reflect on, and share.