Indigenous Nutrition: Using Traditional Food Knowledge to Solve Contemporary Health Problems

Abstract

I grew up on the island of Cape Breton in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, an island called Unama'ki (land of fog) by the Mi'kmaq people indigenous to this region. I was taught to hunt and fish by my grandfather and father, gathered berries with my family, developed a taste for many wild foods, and enjoyed a wide assortment of produce from the family garden. These experiences expanded my enjoyment of food beyond the traditional fish, potato, and cabbage fare on the eastern coast of Canada. I was also exposed to the processed and fast foods then rising in cultural prominence. Following the tradition of leaving Cape Breton/Unama'ki because of the economic conditions there, I have lived in urban areas across Canada for much of my life. Over the ensuing years I have had a keen interest in the relationship between food and culture, nutrition and health. While learning to appreciate the global diversity of food traditions from my culturally diverse friends, I have been concurrently dismayed by the dramatic changes in dietary habits associated with consumer culture. These changes in dietary habits reflect, in my opinion, a deteriorating appreciation in our personal and social connections to food as well as underlying environmental and ecological problems. While studying science in a multidisciplinary university environment, I also pursued an interest in traditional Chinese medicine. From this emerged an effort to understand the relationship between science and traditional knowledge, particularly in the area of health and healing.' In traditional Chinese culture, as in Aboriginal culture, there is no clear distinction between food and medicine. In working as a healer I became in-