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Where People Feast is one of few indigenous cookbooks in this heritage collection. This one is special because it is the product of a mother-daughter team – daughter and granddaughters of high-ranking chiefs – who operated the world’s only indigenous fine-dining restaurant until 2007. The ingredients are conventional, regional and traditional in their uses and appearances. Salmon and bannock, venison roast with juniper berry rub, rabbit pot pie, chokecherry-glazed grouse, wild buffalo burgers and the under-used oolichan – which once populated BC rivers by the millions – are all common ingredients in multiple recipes. Smoking methods are even taught, foraged goods are included in recipes, and the appropriation of food from both land and sea are presented with a multi-faceted significance: from earth, nourishing the body to connect the soul. The importance of these recipes is not just their dominant presence on the mainstream Vancouver restaurant scene, but what food represents in the indigenous community and what the rest of the world can learn about food: it is what connects family, community and the afterlife.
