Mi'kmaw youth culinary camp blends past, present

Ava Prosper loves to bake, but the We'koqma'q First Nation high school student has more than cake and cupcakes on her mind. 

Prosper was among the participants in a recent Mi'kmaw youth culinary camp that took place at three Cape Breton locations.

The event, sponsored by Nova Scotia Community College and the Nova Scotia Indigenous Tourism Enterprise Network, combined long-held Mi'kmaw food preparation and preservation techniques with modern culinary practices.

The events were centred at NSCC's Strait Area Campus in Port Hawkesbury. They included a visit from well-known chef Ray Bear.

The students also took field trips to visit Mi'kmaw elders in We'koqma'q and Eskasoni, where they learned traditional Indigenous approaches to making meals and keeping ingredients fresh. 

"I think it's important that more Indigenous chefs kind of get out of their comfort zone a little bit," Prosper said after the session with Bear.

Prosper is not alone. 

Critical time, sponsor says

Robert Bernard, executive director of the Nova Scotia Indigenous Tourism Enterprise Network, says it is a critical time to encourage young Mi'kmaq to take on culinary challenges and get their culture's traditional dishes on Nova Scotia restaurant menus.

Bernard says the province's ban on serving game such as deer, moose and pheasant in Nova Scotia restaurants puts Mi'kmaw tourism at a disadvantage.

"We've been working hard to try to bring together opportunities for growing Mi'kmaw-specific culinary opportunities, so that we can basically catch up with what's going on across the country with other areas that are really seeing awesome progress," Bernard said.

"People are flocking to these areas to take part in their authentic Indigenous offerings."

Chef enthusiastic about passing on skills

The camp was a homecoming of sorts for Bear, who got his first restaurant-kitchen exposure at age 10. He learned from the masters before embarking on a culinary journey that took him across North America and Europe.

Now a restaurant owner in his childhood home of Nova Scotia, Bear's Cree influences have mixed with Mi'kmaw elements. This balance of tradition and contemporary culinary styles had young Cape Bretoners watching his every move.

"Quite often, I say things [to the students] and I say to myself, 'That's something my chef had said to me,'" Bear said.

"The biggest thing for us is looking at the product with respect. When it comes into the kitchen, treat it as it's supposed to be treated, store it as it's supposed to be stored, and then let Mother Nature kind of shine."