all the time.” Pumpkins aren’t just for carving, and that hard, vibrantly colored corn isn’t just for decoration. Elena describes numerous ways everyone can be courteously involved with native foods. There are recipes focused on indigenous foods online, especially with chefs like Sean Sherman growing in popularity. The website for American Indian Foods (indianagfoods.org) has a directory of native food producers by state, and Elena encourages home cooks to approach their usual recipes differently and honor flavors that come from foods that were here long before them (and happen to be gluten and lactose free). She describes a stew she calls Three Sisters and an Undercover Brother, which has smoked turkey, hominy, dried and fresh squash, and beans. It’s versatile and can be modified for what you have on hand. “It’s not about eating decolonized. It’s about honoring these native foods and flavors and bringing them into your home.” She also encourages people to support those trying to farm responsibly. “There’s no denying things need to change. Regenerative farming needs to happen, and this is what we can do to make things better for the next generation.” She loves cross-cultural efforts to educate others on different practices, the flow of information and
goods from rural to urban areas, and connecting communities that may not have had relationships without her organization. Thanks to Elena and those like her, anyone interested in native foods has the opportunity to learn, taste, and cook in a way respectful to the land and cultures past. Anna Thomas Bates moved to Wisconsin 21 years ago, and after shopping at the Dane County Farmers’ Market and wandering through the Driftless Area, she hasn’t looked back. Co-owner of Landmark Creamery in Paoli, if she isn’t tasting/ selling cheese, you’ll find her writing about food, reading a good book, swimming, or hiking with her two boys. Photographs provided by Wild Bearies.
Anna Thomas Bates
WILD BEARIES wildbearies.org
Madison’s LGBTQ magazine since 2007
madisonessentials.com
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