FOOD/NEWS LAU R IE PEAR M AN
YEAR OF IDAHO FOOD GU Y HAND
EMPLOYED BY MOTHER EARTH
The Saladman cometh.
Coeur d’Alene tribe gets back to its food roots
THE SALADMAN FINDS A PERMANENT HOME; GARDEN CITY GETS A NEW BREWERY
GUY HAND Stepping into the Family Foods supermarket in Plummer, 34 miles south of Coeur d’Alene, is not unlike stepping into a supermarket anywhere in rural America. A case full of day-glow donuts and thickly frosted cakes grab the eye the instant a shopper walks through its door. The deli counter is stacked in crisp brown mountains of deep-fried everything—and apart from a long wall of pricey produce and a rather impressive meat counter—space is given over to a typical assortment of packaged and processed fare. There is nothing exceptional about that supermarket—apart from the fact that it sits on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, home to a community grappling with the obesity, diabetes and other food-related illnesses that studies have linked to the kind of unexceptional food lining American grocery store shelves. A group of local food activists say Plummer’s only grocery store isn’t the root problem, nor is it the convenience stores and fast-food outlets that dot Plummer’s main drag. It’s the lack of healthy, affordable food options available to a town of 900 people. That group, the One Sky/One Earth Food Coalition, wants to change things. “We’re rampant with diabetes,” said LoVina Louie as she and three other coalition members picked huckleberries in the mountains east of town on a cloudless August morning. A 2008 federal study found that Native Americans between the ages of 15 and 19 experienced a 70 percent increase in diabetes between 1994 and 2004. “It’s just so much easier to buy fried foods,” Louie added. “That kind of food is what’s killing us.” The link between diet and disease is hardly unique to Native Americans, but the problem is often amplified by factors unique to reservations. Many are located in “food deserts,” defined by the USDA as areas “with low access to a supermarket or large grocery store.” Reservations are also often located on unproductive land or arable land leased to non-natives involved in large-scale, commodity agriculture. One study found that 70 percent of America’s tribal croplands are leased to non-Native Americans—much of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s land is leased to commodity wheat producers who sell their product to distant markets. In addition, many tribes have limited access to land suitable for practicing traditional, ancient food ways. The net result is that Native Americans tend to WWW. B OISEWEEKLY.C O M
Members of the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation take control of their community’s food choices, one berry at a time.
produce little of their own food and have limited control over the kinds of foods imported into their communities. “So we started this little food coalition,” said Laura Laumatia, the University of Idaho Extension educator for the Coeur d’Alene Reservation and one of the four women picking huckleberries. As she dropped berries into a bucket, Laumatia said “a mix of tribal and non-tribal folks” formed the coalition on the reservation a year and a half ago to take control over their community’s food choices. “We decided to keep it pretty informal and started planning events where people would feel comfortable,” Laumatia said of the coalition’s fledgling efforts. “Everybody always likes to have a meal together and that definitely ties into traditional Coeur d’Alene culture,” Laumatia said, so in 2010, the coalition began hosting bi-monthly dinners. At the dinners, the group showed provocative food films like Fresh and Food, Inc. and then discussed them. “That was how we got started,” Laumatia said. “But then we realized you have to look at the whole system.” After acquiring some donation and grant money, the One Sky/One Earth Food Coalition—which by then included the tribe’s Department of Natural Resources, its Cultural Department and other key community organizations—grew more ambitious. The coalition began offering instructions to home gardeners and, in April, built one of three small community gardens. It even talked the tribe’s Wellness Center staff into replacing many of its highly processed, sugary snacks with healthier hummus, Greek yogurt and whole wheat products. Picking huckleberries was another way coalition members were trying to improve the reservation’s food future: by supporting the tribe’s ongoing efforts to
preserve and reinvigorate its hunting and gathering traditions. “We’re hoping we might be able to use some of these huckleberries for our Water Potato Day event,” explained Gina Baughn, the tribe’s natural resources education specialist. Water potatoes are an aquatic tuber that the Coeur d’Alene Tribe once foraged along the banks of lake Coeur d’Alene. Every fall, the tribe puts on Water Potato Day as a educational opportunity and celebration. “We hope to have a teepee set up and some traditional foods [like huckleberries],” Baughn said. “Then we’ll have some elders talking about the importance of water potatoes and traditional foods.” The tribe has been inviting surrounding schools and the general public to the event for about a decade, now. This year’s water potato events will be held Oct. 26-28. Louie, who, a couple of hours into the huckleberry picking session had picked more berries than anyone else, mentioned helping with another tribal-food program back in June. At a “culture camp week,” tribal children were taught how to erect teepees; skin, quarter and dry deer meat; catch fish and dig camas—another iconic staple for many Idaho Indian tribes. As positive as the event was, it also gave Louie pause. “All the kids we took digging camas, they had never dug camas,” she sighed. “They didn’t even know what to look for. And, you know, some of the boys had never been out hunting,” Louie said, before she stopped and stared into a deep blue sky. “And that’s who we are.” For Louie, the tribe losing its food traditions is tantamount to losing its identity—and potentially more 28 culturally damaging than a disease like
For the past 12 years, Chris the Saladman has been one of the few purveyors of green things at deep-fried fairs and festivals across the valley. But now, as other area cooks opt to go mobile, Chris Olson has decided to set up shop in a spot sans wheels. Olson plans to open Chris’ on Broadway Featuring Saladman by the first of October in the building that formerly housed Jeffrey’s Next Door. In addition to his salads and wraps, Olson will also offer 12-15 different burgers, hand-cut fries, smoked ribs and chicken. “We’ll do breakfast Saturday and Sunday mornings, and we’ll have Friday-Saturday night steak and scampi or steak and ahi dinners,” said Olson. Chris’ on Broadway will be smoke- and alcohol-free, but Olson said patrons are more than welcome to take their grub to go and saddle up next door at Broadway Bar for a cheap cocktail and a smoke. And in brews news, Brewforia took a quick breather after the Barley Bros. festival before launching into its latest sudsy undertaking, Oktoberfest. For $30, you’ll get a bottomless beer stein and the chance to watch besotted lads in lederhosen rock the accordion. Not to mention, there will be plenty of schnitzel, beer games and a $250 grand prize Best Beard Contest. Ocktoberfest runs from 1-11 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Century Link Arena. For more information, visit oktoberfestid.com. And in other exciting craft-brew news, Garden City will soon be home to another microbrewery, Crooked Fence Brewing. The spot is getting situated at 5242 Chinden Blvd., east of Glenwood Street. Frequent BW illustrator and cover artist Kelly Knopp is designing the labels and marketing for the brewery, including the oh-so-delicioussounding Three Picket Porter, which is aged in Jack Daniels whiskey barrels. For updates on Crooked Fence’s official grand opening, visit cfbrewing.blogspot.com. In the mood for a beercation? Grand Teton Brewing Company has organized an overnight adventure from Boise to the brewery in Victor. The bus leaves Monday, Sept. 19, at 9 a.m. and returns on Tuesday, Sept. 20, by 9 p.m. The package includes a tour of Grand Teton, the chance to brew your own beer and ample beer-tasting opportunities. Lodging, transportation, meals and beers are all provided. Tickets are $249 and can be purchased by emailing beermail@grandtetonbrewing.com. —Tara Morgan
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