Indigenous Foodways

author Sara Calvosa Olson and the cover of her book about indigenous foods and foodways, Chimi Nu'am. (Photo courtesy of Sara Calvosa Olson)

This Indigenous Cook Wants to Help Readers Decolonize Their Diets

By Twilight Greenaway

November 28, 2023

Karuk writer and home cook Sara Calvosa Olson has assembled a collection of Native recipes to help readers reconnect to the natural world.

Building a Case for Investment in Regenerative Agriculture on Indigenous Farms

November 20, 2023

Jess Brewer gathers livestock at Brewer Ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. (Photo courtesy of Intertribal Agriculture Council, www.indianag.org)

Tribes Are Building Food Sovereignty With Help From the Nation’s Largest Hunger-Relief Group

October 31, 2023

Cheyenne Majenty of Helping Hands for Hualapai hopes a new program through Feeding America will help the tribe develop greater food sovereignty through community gardens. (Photo credit: Joel Gonzalez)

This Oregon Farmer Is Building a New Model for Indigenous Food and Agriculture

September 18, 2023

Spring Alaska Schreiner walks in her greenhouse at Sakari Farms. (Photo courtesy of Spring Alaska Schreiner)

How Alaska Natives Lost the Right to Fish Sacred Salmon

August 14, 2023

An Alaska Native subsistence fisherman steers his boat loaded with salmon on the Yukon River.

A Fight for Salmon Fishing Rights Connects Indigenous Peoples Across the Pacific Ocean

July 26, 2023

Members of the Raporo Ainu Nation observe asir cep nomi, an Ainu ceremony that marks the fish’s annual migration back to the island’s major rivers and tributaries. (Photo credit: Centre for Environmental and Minority Policy Studies)

This Indigenous 4-H Officer Wants to See More Farm Bill Funding for Her Community

By Gabriel Pietrorazio

July 25, 2023

Kristy Kinlicheenie standing outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture's headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Gabriel Pietrorazio)

An Indigenous-Led Team Is Transforming a Minneapolis Superfund Site into a New Urban Farm

July 18, 2023

Op-ed: Saving This Fish Means Saving Our Tribe’s Future

By Ron Montez Sr. and Jeanine Pfeiffer

June 28, 2023

Ron Montez Sr. stands at an impassible culvert on Adobe Creek, singing to hitch pooling in the waters below. (Photo credit: Jeanine Pfeiffer)

Farm Bill Funding for Indigenous Food Producers Needs a Boost

By Gabriel Pietrorazio

May 8, 2023

Spring Alaska Schreiner, owner and principal ecologist at Sakari Farms, reaches down to lift a planting and its root systems inside one of six smaller greenhouses. (Photo courtesy of Sakari Farms)

Can Sean Sherman’s BIPOC Foodways Alliance Dismantle White Supremacy Over Dinner?

April 25, 2023

Chef and food writer Mecca Bos (left) and Native American chef Sean Sherman (center) launched the BIPOC Foodways Alliance to preserve and share food stories from various communities of color. They recently hosted their first communal dinner to share different cultural approaches to cooking and sharing food. (Photo credit: Uche Iroegbu)

Supreme Court Case Could Reshape Indigenous Water Rights in the Southwest

By Virginia Gewin

March 15, 2023

A close-up view of center-pivot irrigation watering corn on NAPI farmland. (Photo courtesy of NAPI)

Alaska’s Climate-Driven Fisheries Collapse Is Devastating Indigenous Communities

March 13, 2023

An Alaskan king crab trap and fishing vessel.

After Centuries of Exploitation, Will Indigenous Communities in Biodiversity Hotspots Finally Get Their Due?

By Mark Schapiro

March 7, 2023

Sailing in a wooden boat on the Amazon river in Peru. An indigenous girl sitting on the front of the boat whilst sailing down the river.

Indigenous Foodways Are the Focus in a Growing Number of Classrooms

By Renata Birkenbuel

February 15, 2023

Indigenous and non-native Great Falls students and staff gather around hides of six bison, including a freshly killed bison, as Indian Education Director Dugan Coburn (in blanket coat) demonstrates skinning the bison and honoring its life with thanks with a sage-burning and pipe prayer. The sage smudge burns away any bad energy. Sweetgrass burning welcomes the good. (Photo credit: Great Falls Public Schools)

The Farm Credit Administration’s First Indigenous Chairman Wants to Level the Playing Field

By Gabriel Pietrorazio

January 12, 2023

Eldrige Hoy, left, and Bryson Sam, members of the Choctaw Nation, seed a high tunnel with Iron Clay peas as a cover crop to improve soil quality. (USDA photo by Bob Nichols)

Climate-Driven Drought Is Stressing the Hopi Tribe’s Foods and Traditions

By David Wallace, Inside Climate News

December 2, 2022

Ann Tenakhongva, 62, and her husband, Clark Tenakhongva, 65, sort traditional Hopi Corn at their home on First Mesa on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona on September 28, 2022. The corn comes from the families’ field in the valley between First Mesa and Second Mesa, which Clark had just harvested. The corn is organized on racks to dry out and then stored in cans and bins for years to come. Much of the corn is ground up for food and ceremonial purposes. Corn is an integral part of Hopi culture and spirituality. (Photo by David Wallace)

This Mother-Daughter Team Is Sharing Food Traditions from the Ho-Chunk Nation

By Gabriel Pietrorazio

November 22, 2022

Elena Terry, (left) and Zoe Fess smile after showcasing Seedy SassSquash, a signature family dish, during the Smithsonian’s

Renata Birkenbuel Joins Civil Eats as Indigenous Foodways Reporting Fellow

By The Civil Eats Editors

November 1, 2022

Indigenous Foodways Fellow Renata Birkenbuel at Belt Creek in Monarch, Montana.

Native Farmers Push for More Equitable Training and Support in the Farm Bill

By Gabriel Pietrorazio

November 1, 2022

Nakai Clearwater Northup stands behind three traditional ethnobotany gardens, which he manages at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center. At one time, his people solely relied on them to maintain their cultural connections to food before the founding of Meechooôk Farm. (Photo by Gabriel Pietrorazio)

As the Pacific Lamprey Declines, Native Tribes Work to Protect Sacred Eel-Like Fish

By B. Toastie, High Country News

October 21, 2022

A member of the Yakama Nation plucks a Pacific lamprey off the rocks at Willamette Falls, Oregon. (Photo credit: Mason Trinca/High Country News)

Decolonizing Regenerative Cattle Ranching

By Ray Levy Uyeda

October 10, 2022

Kelsey Scott (left) and Monte Scott (right) pose together in front of a herd of cattle on the families' ranch in the Cheyenne River Reservation. (Photo credit: Jennifer Zeller)

Native Tribes Are Bringing Prairie Land Back to the Pacific Northwest

By Claire Elise Thompson, Grist

September 16, 2022

A group sows camas seeds on the Jamestown Tribe’s 1.5-acre prairie site. (Photo credit: Miranda Wilson)

Meet the Researchers ‘Decolonizing Botany’ to Save Our Food Supply

By Mark Schapiro, Inside Climate News

September 9, 2022

Researchers explain pearl millet pollination techniques in India. Credit: Michael Major/Crop Trust

Meet the Group That’s Been Bringing Bison Back to Tribal Lands for 30 Years

By Gabriel Pietrorazio

July 26, 2022

The Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Harlem, Montana, has gathered an estimated 45 buffalo during two ITBC transfers in 1996 and 2014. (Photo courtesy of the InterTribal Buffalo Council)