Highway closures in B.C. raise concerns about local food security during disaster

Coquihalla Highway closed in February 2017 due to heavy snowfall, leaving transport trucks and private vehicles stuck on the highway overnight.

Experts say communities have between 3-5 days of supplies before more needs to be shipped in

By Andrew Kurjata and Ash Kelly, CBC News, Feb 15, 2017

A series of highway closures has highlighted how dependent B.C. communities are on regular shipments of food and supplies and raised questions about what would happen to that supply chain during a prolonged emergency.

Wikwemikong residents restart traditional wild rice harvest

People from Wikwemikong harvest wild rice near Killary in northern Ontario.

“We lost harvesting it, we lost the practice,” program facilitator says

CBC News,  Sept 25, 2014

The traditional practice of harvesting and processing wild rice is being revived in First Nations on Manitoulin Island.

The practice had almost died out, but five years ago community members from Wikwemikong started a Wild Rice Restoration Program, said Mary Ellen Kitchikake, the program facilitator.

A crop of Mnoomin, as the rice is traditionally known, was planted. It was recently harvested and processed using traditional methods.

“We lost harvesting it, we lost the practice,” she said. “Some of our people lost the language. It’s the same thing.”

Guts and Grease: The Diet of Native Americans

by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD, Westonaprice.org

The hunter-gatherer’s dinner is front page news these days. Drawing from the writings of Dr. Boyd Eaton and Professor Loren Cordain, experts in the so-called Paleolithic diet, columnists and reporters are spreading the word about the health benefits of a diet rich in protein and high in fiber from a variety of plant foods ^1,2. It’s actually amusing to see what the modern food pundits come up with as examples of the “Paleolithic Prescription.” Jean Carper offers a Stone Age Salad of mixed greens, garbanzo beans, skinless chicken breast, walnuts and fresh herbs, mixed with a dressing made of orange juice, balsamic vinegar and canola oil.³ Elizabeth Somer suggests wholewheat waffles with fat-free cream cheese, coleslaw with nonfat dressing, grilled halibut with spinach, grilled tofu and vegetables over rice, nonfat milk, canned apricots and mineral water, along with prawns and clams. Her Stone Age food pyramid includes plenty of plant foods, extra lean meat and fish, nonfat milk products, and honey and eggs in small amounts.⁴