This week we talked about the Wintun (Wintu, Nomlaki, and Patwin) people and made a salad with two plants native to North America (sunflowers and blueberries) and the cultivated descendant of the kind of wild leafy greens that supplemented an Indigenous diet that also included acorn and King salmon. We incorporated three parts of the sunflower plant: the tuber (similar to the root, but with the added ability to reproduce), the sprouts, and the seeds. The seeds were toasted and the salad dressing was made with a particularly delicious extra-virgin olive oil sold under the label Séka Hills, which is produced by the Yoche Dehe Wintun Nation in Yolo County. It was special to honor Indigenous food traditions both old and new in the same meal!
We watched a video called Seeds of Our Ancestors: Native Youth Awakening to Foodways, which showcases young Native people learning about their cultural heritage through food. Inspired by their curiosity and pride, in breakout rooms during our class everyone shared a recipe they would like to learn how to make.
Students compared the taste of the raw sunchoke to water chestnut, jicama, artichoke, and apple. Some asked where they could find sunchokes in the store, so I’m hopeful more families will give them a try. The most popular item in this week’s kit was surprisingly the dressing. It was a simple vinaigrette made with garlic, shallots, apple cider vinegar, Meyer lemon juice, stone-ground mustard, the Séka Hills olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme from my balcony planter garden. Perhaps that is the greatest secret to the best tasting food revealed - that it was made with ingredients grown by someone you know who cares about you.
