Our Ancestors' Kitchen

Cover of book Our Ancestors' Kitchen
A beautiful book celebrating traditional Indigenous harvesting, foods, and the connections that these build for all our relations. Themes: Indigenous food, food sovereignty, inter generational relationships.

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From Annick Press. To find the book, visit your local library or purchase from an Indigenous book store.
Willie Poll, author.
Photo Source: Author's website

About the Author

“I am a registered and claimed member of the Metis Nation of Ontario (www.metisnation.org), the federally and provincially recognized representative government for our community. Specifically, I am from the Historic Métis Community of Sault Ste. Marie. Many of my family are also registered and claimed members. The family names in which hold my Metis ancestry are Pilon, Beaudry, Tranche, and Couturier.”
– from author Willie Poll’s website. 

Photo Source: Illustrator's website

About the Illustrator

Shaikara David, an Indigenous artist from Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, now in Ottawa, passionately explores storytelling and cultural representation through her vibrant and magical paintings.
She specializes in colorful characters and worlds; illustrating for editorial, album artwork, environment and character design, and youth and children’s book illustration.

– Bio from illustrator’s website.

Photo source: Author

About our Honored Guest

“My name is Lucy Grignon.  I am an enrolled member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Nation and a direct descendant of the Menominee Nation.  Muh-he-con-ne-ok being of the People of the Waters that are never still, and Menominee being of the Ancient movers.  I am a passionate community taught chef, educator, teacher, Momma, photographer, artist, writer, doula, and advocate for my community and the world around me. I am developing my relationship with Grandmother Earth.  My family owns an Indigenous Homestead called Ancient Roots in Bowler, Wisconsin.  We research traditional gardening practices from our ancestors dating back to ages ago to the present day.  We use a combination of their methods to learn, preserve, grow, seed save, reconnect, and share.  We are working to reconnect to our cultural inheritance through the land, plants, medicines, and wildlife.  I recognize my connections to my Indigenous roots come in many forms, from our language journey to the stories of our elders, our people, and our healing.”
– from our guest

Discussion Questions

  1.  Do you recognize any of the foods in the book? Have you eaten any of them before?
  2.  What are your favorite foods and why?
  3. At the beginning of the book, it says, “Our ancestors teach us that there are memories in our meals. There is magic in our cooking. There is culture in our food.” What do you think that means?

Questions from Our Ancestor’s Kitchen Educator’s Guide by Lucy Grignon.

Photo Source: ElinorD via Wikimedia Commons

Learning Activities

Photo: Jason Dean, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
  1. With an adult, make some of your favorite foods.
  2. After creating your meal, invite a friend or neighbor to share a meal with you.
  3. Share why this is your favorite meal and what its significance is to you.

Explore More

  1. Learn more about Indigenous Foods from the National Museum of the American Indian: https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/informational/native-life-food

  2. Watch this Native American Food Sovereignty video from PBS https://www.pbs.org/articles/learn-about-indigenous-cuisine-and-native-chefs