Film to Watch: Gather

The Fight for Indigenous Foodways

Among the many injustices suffered by indigenous peoples is the loss of native foodways, along with the cultural identities associated with those foods and traditions. But a movement is underway to revive indigenous foodways and along with it, food sovereignty. The film Gather portrays the work of indigenous people from four tribes fighting to restore a rich cultural food heritage that was once thought lost.

Nephi Craig, a classically trained chef from the White Mountain Apache Nation in Arizona, is intimately familiar with these consequences. The loss of native lands meant also losing access to traditional and nourishing foods. The resulting food deserts directly contributed to the high rates of type 2 diabetes and other chronic illnesses, including substance abuse, that plague reservations today.

After his own struggles with substance abuse, Chef Nephi is now channeling his culinary skills into showcasing native foods with the opening of Café Gozhóó on the Fort Apache Reservation. Most of the café’s produce will come from Ndee Bikíyaa (The People's Farm), a sustainable farming project dedicated to revitalizing native practices. Chef Nephi transforms Ndee Bikíyaa’s organically grown produce into beautifully composed, mouthwatering dishes that combine traditional meaning with modern sensibilities. Chef Nephi views this reconnection with his ancestors’ foodways as an important part of the healing process, for himself and for native peoples writ large.

This reconnection to native identity through food is a concept master forager Twila Cassadore actively supports with her own work. A member of the San Carlos Apache tribe, Twila is reintroducing ancient medicinal and food practices to indigenous youth in her community. She speaks openly and candidly about how reclaiming her spiritual and cultural identify through food sovereignty helped her overcome personal trauma.

The precipitous decline in the health of native peoples also weighs on Elsie Dubray and her father Fred, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation. Looking out over the sweeping plains of South Dakota, Fred shares his vision of increasing the numbers of native buffalo, once a plentiful and critical food source. The ruthless slaughter of the buffalo by white settlers was a calculated move to force indigenous peoples onto reservations, where they became dependent on government rations of highly processed foods bearing little resemblance to traditional foodways.

To help answer the question of whether this deprivation of native food sources is contributing to chronically poor health among indigenous peoples, Elsie launches a multi-year study into the health benefits of traditional grass-fed buffalo meat compared to commercially raised beef. Given the obvious love for both the animals and land expressed by Elsie and Fred, you are rooting for her to find an answer in favor of traditional ways.

Preserving indigenous foodways is also at the center of Sammy Gensaw’s work with the Ancestral Guard, a project aimed at teaching youth how to catch and smoke salmon using traditional Yurok Nation methods. Damming along the Klamath River, along with the California state government’s extension of exclusive rights over coastal waterways and lands, disrupted the ability of coastal tribes to continue foraging and fishing legally.

Against the stunning backdrop of towering pines and a crashing surf, Sammy explains over an open fire that he likely will suffer the effects of a poor modern diet, but that doesn’t mean future generations must experience the same fate.

Gather is a testament to the resilience of indigenous peoples, despite the persistent efforts of white colonialism to systemically destroy native populations and their practices. The film also reaffirms the importance of maintaining a close and respectful relationship with the natural world.

These relationships also speak to the core values of the Slow Food movement, which strives to ensure Good, Clean, and Fair food for ALL people. Programs such as the Ark of Taste are dedicated to documenting and preserving foods of cultural and historical significance around the world, the work of the Slow Food Turtle Island Association connects indigenous food producers and farmers.

Gather is available for streaming on iTunes and Amazon. Read more about the film at: https://gather.film/.