I’ve just finished a good meal of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and turnips. I should be more careful because I think I’m gaining some weight. Come to think of it I have been eating very well lately, but often I think of my parents’ wigwam in Attawapiskat and I can almost smell the odor of smoked geese drifting out the open flap.
One of the first things that come to mind, when I recall what I consider as Cree food, is bannock. These days this cake is baked in the oven in pans but is best roasted over a fire. When cooked over flames, the dough is wrapped around a stick and roasted over the heat.
The Snow Goose, or Way-way-o, and the Canada Goose, or Nis-ka, are staples of the Mushkego Cree diet. I love smoked goose, or Namehshtehk as we call it. Originally, the goose was smoked to preserve the meat, but today it is mostly a matter of taste. Smoking is usually done by hanging the geese high over a fire in a wigwam. The goose can also be roasted over a fire. Once it is plucked and gutted, a stick is inserted through the breast and a string tied to the extending stick ends and onto a supporting overhead rack or tripod above the flames. A goose is great to eat on site, freshly smoked, or you can store it for later, then simply boil and serve with vegetables. Another great way to enjoy goose is roasted over an oven flame on a sharpened stick; of course this is best with a fresh bird.
Fish was one of the staple foods of the Crees but today is not a big part of the diet. From time to time someone will head out on a fishing trip and bring back huge trout or pickerel which is then pan-fried. I remember having smoked fish a few times when I was a boy but this is not done much today. Fishing once was a big part of our lifestyle but in recent years life has changed for the James Bay Crees. People have full-time jobs now and food is available, albeit at an enormous cost, at the local grocery store. In addition one has to venture much further these days for good fishing.
Large game animals, such as moose and caribou, are also harvested from the land and still provide for a substantial part of a family’s diet over the long winter months. These meats are usually used in a stew or fried or boiled as steaks and often ground into minced meat.
Tea ploss is a drink that is enjoyed mostly these days by older people. Many a hunter owes his life to this survival brew. It is best when you are out on the land during a hunt or on a trapline and you need a boost. Tea ploss is a combination of tea, flour, lard and sugar.
There are no gourmet recipes that come out of the frozen north but in a way the experience of dining on goose, fresh fish, moose or caribou is precious to me and I am surprised that these dishes are considered an exotic delicacy to many non-Natives.
Xavier Kataquapit is a young Cree writer born and raised in Attawapiskat. He now livesin Iroquois Falls, Ont. This column will be appearing regularly in The Nation.
