By Dale Carson
Native Cooking
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Here comes another year, another cycle, a clean slate and a new chance to feel happy. In Abenaki, happy is alamizwidahomgwad.
As an admitted “foodie,” each year I search and hope to find new taste sensations. Sometimes I find this at a friend’s house, or a restaurant, often by accident having read about a new way to fix something familiar. If it comes out successfully it becomes a new part of my culinary crazy quilt.
As we approach “hunker down time” in the chill of winter, comfort food wants to shine. It makes me think of thick soups, chowders, one-dish meals and fabulous crock pot suppers. A modern version of a cast iron dutch oven.
Three of my grandparents were Canadian, and I am sure their diets relied heavily on meat and dried fish. My father always talked about a meat pie his mother made called “corton,” which I’m sure is spelled differently. A wonderful winter meal could be made with marinated meat, potatoes or wild rice, and butternut squash with some cornbread on the side—heaven.
As Indigenous, Native people I’m sure we all have incorporated into our diets traditional food favorites passed down to us by family and others: Aunt Joan’s elk stew, Grand-mere’s corn pudding, Mom’s maple fudge, and others that we should try again. Now, I am on a mission to prove chocolate is a healthfood. Wish me luck! Meanwhile, here’s a taste sensation that you might enjoy.
WOJAPE
(a delicious sauce for game)
3 cups chokecherries
1 1/2 cups water
Sweeten to taste with maple sugar
