Do raisins belong in Indigenous cuisines?

Indigenous people love a good debate. What is that delicious flat bread made at powwows and in kitchens across Turtle Island called? Is it bannock, fry bread, scone or skaan? Is it best fried or baked? 

The discussion gets further complicated when you throw raisins into the mixing bowl — and it's sparked heated debates on social media.

Following a month-long investigation into whether or not raisins belong in traditional and contemporary Indigenous cuisines, CBC Indigenous has learned that Indigenous palates are either grapeful for the little dried fruit or they make one's taste buds shrivel up like a … well, you know….

Raisin lovers

Sherry Ann Rodgers, originally from the Anishnabe (Algonquin) community of Rapid Lake in western Quebec, opened the Anishnabe Kwe Café earlier this year in Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, 136 kilometres north of Ottawa. 

She makes and sells fried raisin bannock daily. 

"We love our raisins," Sherry Ann Rodgers said of her home community.

"I grew up with raisin pie, fried raisin doughnuts and all that."

Tim Fontaine also grew up eating raisin pie. The Winnipeg-based writer from Sagkeeng First Nation even likes raisins in butter tarts and rice pudding.

"Raisin bannock isn't my number one, but I love it," he said.

"I know that on the Prairies, like in Manitoba and in Saskatchewan … there's a lot of raisin activity…. It's almost like Indigenous soul food."

'Raisins are gross'

Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller has visited many Indigenous communities in his role, and consequently has tried a lot of bannock. CBC Indigenous asked him to weigh in on the debate.

"In the past, the minister has expressed a preference for a particular bannock vendor at the Kahnawake powwow, which has only served to damage relations with other well respected bannock makers. Accordingly, no further comment will be made," read a statement from his office.

"Also, raisins are gross."

Beyond bannock, raisins have crept into regional dishes from coast to coast to coast like wild rice, traditional soups, and even meat pies. 

While Anishinaabe author Waubgeshig Rice enjoys eating raisins on their own, he's not a fan when it comes to adding them to Indigenous foods like wild rice and skaan. 

"It tastes kind of weird, feels kind of weird," he said.

"Even though I am opposed to them in some foods, I am not extending any sort of vitriol or ill feelings towards them or people who like them because we adapt foods to our own cuisine and lifestyles."

Bannock itself is a perfect example of that, he says. 

Commodity food

While many Indigenous nations across North America traditionally have some version of bread, modern bannock made from wheat flour was introduced by Scottish settlers.

Europeans also brought the raisins we're familiar with from overseas, says Six Nations of the Grand River chef Tawnya Brant.

They're also tied to a colonial history of poverty and marginalization. The long shelf life of a box of raisins made them ideal commodity foods that were delivered to Native American communities in the United States by government officials.

"There's just so many things we do that we don't know why we do them. We just do them because that's how it's always been done. And I think that's kind of where raisins lie," she said.

In Six Nations, raisins are added to Indian cookies — a spiced ginger cookie adopted from British influences. 

"I hated them growing up," Brant said about raisins.

That's why won't find raisins in any food served at her restaurant Yawékon. She prefers to cook with cranberries or blueberries as they're indigenous to the region. 

Nonetheless, she believes the Kanien'kehá:ka, Cayuga, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, and Tuscarora were historically probably a confederacy of pro-raisin nations, too.

"Concord grapes are the only indigenous variety of grapes that is grown domestically. All the rest of them all come from Europe," said Brant.

"Raisins are something that came from a commodity food. But it shouldn't have been something that was totally out of our realm because drying was a huge thing for us…. We dried everything else. We dried strawberries and dried blueberries."

Baked, not fried

Like Brant, Paul Natrall prefers cooking with cranberries over raisins when it comes to the food he makes at Mr. Bannock.

The Squamish Nation chef has been operating the Vancouver food truck since 2018.

He said it's hard to deny the nostalgic feelings that raisins evoke.

"My grandmother actually used to love using them," said Natrall.

"You can't beat a fresh baked bannock with raisins in there…. Whether you like it or not like it, it's out there and people really enjoy it."

For raisin enthusiasts like Fontaine, the importance is about raisin awareness.

"You don't even know what you're hating," he said.

"Give it a try. You might be surprised. If you don't, more for us."