Nutrition - Meechum - Syllabics
Now-a-days, the Cree Family eats quite a diverse diet that still includes traditional foods but it is served less frequently and mostly served at feast, during family gatherings when Gookums are available to cook.
A good way to support your family meal planning is to attend the Cooking classes available in each community.
Join Collective Kitchens
Ask an Elder to teach you!
Learn how to cook or Meal Prep
 Fire for Cooking Sigabon |
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 Blueberry |
 Making Deglep at CampMaking Deglep |
 Goose Cooking Preparation |
 Cooking with Blueberries |
 Child eating an apple |
 Feasts |
 Cooking Organs at Camp |
 Child eating western food |
 Typical moose meal at camp |
 Making Fish Broth |
 Fixing Geese |
 Nimshes |
 Making Tea |
 Sturgeon |
 Child Cooking |
Families are now on the go most of the time, and need to follow work and school schedules. The fact that the communities are usually farther away from a more economical source of groceries also gives families less choices for quick nutritious foods which are more costly than other less nutritionally dense foods.
All over the world, food is a reflection of culture. The way we eat, when and how we eat, what is used to eat, what we eat, the spices used as well as the balance between all that is indigenous to the land we occupy and what is imported from other cultures.
A little History
In the past, what grew where you we born and lived, was what you made do with. In Eeyou Istchee, Eyou and Enou ate game meat (all parts of the animal except the skin, was eaten), fish, partridge eggs, geese, lichens, moss, some roots and berries. Men provided game meat and fish, women and children gathered the rest. The only other source nutrients needed and obtained from fruits and greens elsewhere else in the world, were provided to the Crees by eating the Moose cooked intestines' content and animal organs. Cree also ate and still eat other game meat, all types of fish, small birds, hares, squirrels, visons, otters, beavers, bears, lynx, moose, caribou. Ocean fish and mammals were also part of the Cree diet for the Cree born further north and closer to the Hudson Bay.
When the Hudson Bay's posts arrived, floor, potatoes, baking powder, black tea, salt and sugar became very important in the Cree diet. Staples food allowed for the meat and fish to last longer by elongating the meal with a sauce, by the addition of carbohydrates in different forms such as dumplings but also by enabling a longer conservation period although, Cree were already adept at drying fish and meats.
Staple foods were introduced at around the same time as the children were being taken away to residential schools. Often, the access to staple foods, clothing and accessories was dependent on letting your child be taken away to the schools. For Cree, trading for goods was a common traditional exchange that enable everyone to share resources.
It was the first time Cree were asked to trade-in their families for what became part of their substinance.
For thousand of years, Cree have fed themselves with food from the land. When the Waamstigooschuu arrived, they brought with them gifts to exchange with the Native population. Even though this was an attempt at over powering and stealing the land, there was also an exchange of culture from the British, Scottish and more. Staple foods, as in flour, sugar and grease were brought onto the Cree land. With the introduction of carbohydrates, diabetes became prevalent and processed foods were also introduced. The incidence of diabetes in the Cree population is exponentially frightening.
Eating traditional foods is still best. If a Western diet is preferred, reading the ingredients and cooking from scratch is important.
Easy Ideas
Cut up veggies to finger food size and place them easily accessible in different plastic containers in your fridge.
Prep and wash different cut-up fruits in one portion plactic bags or small plastic containers for healthey snacks.
For long trips, make divider trays into a snack buffet. Choose healthy foods like dry fruits (be careful of allergies), tiny grain crackers, blueberries, rasberries, cut-up grapes (choking hazard), etc.
Cook a larger amount of a meal and freeze the excess in portions. Ex: spaghetti sauce, sheperd's pie, stew, chili, etc.
Call your CMC nutritionnist for quick healthy recipees.
Prep your meals during the week-end. Place them in the fridger in a plastic bag in a tray with the first meal in front.
Use recipees where you can mix all ingredients in one bag and throw one in a pot when you get home.
Use a crock pot and cook soups or stews. Cook your meal on low. Supper will be ready when you get home.
Keep Friday and Saturday meals special by making it fun and easy for everyone. Make Friday night nachos, make you own pizza night, etc.