Skip to main content
brightcove-5186058618001.jpg
Back to Show
Tending the Wild

Decolonizing the Diet: How Native Peoples are Reclaiming Traditional Foods

Season 1 Episode 4

California -- a biodiversity hotspot -- provides an abundance of plants for both food and medicine. To Native peoples across the state, gathering locations were like supermarkets today. They provided all the resources necessary to survive. These native plants are relevant today as they reinforce cultural continuity for California's Native peoples and provide healthy, drought-tolerant alternatives to the processed foods typically found in Western diets. In contemporary California, movements such as "eat local" and scientists' "discovery" of the health benefits inherent in chia and sage, for instance, have led to an increasing awareness and desire to purchase indigenous foods. But while more and more people are recognizing the benefits of California's indigenous plants, the scale of the commercial food industry often prohibits access to local indigenous communities. In this video, we visit members of the Chia Cafe Collective, a group working in Southern California to revive Native food practices and raise awareness about the precarity of these important cultural resources.

Co-produced by KCETLink Media Group and the Autry Museum, this six-part multimedia series and one-hour documentary special are presented in association with California Continued, a groundbreaking exhibition now on view at the Autry.

Support Provided By
Living Desert
Indigenous peoples have thrived in the desert for centuries. This video explores how they are confronting threats to their environment from large-scale industry.
Close up shot of a person's hand touching a plant's leaf between their index finger and thumb.
Native herbalism has a long history and continues to be practiced today. This video explores a holistic approach to health and how the environment can inform healthy living.
Weaving Community
Despite barriers to access, traditional gathering and basket weaving is still practiced across California as a new generation is rediscovering and preserving its cultural heritage.
Keeping the River
The Yurok, Karuk, and Hupa peoples have maintained a close relationship with the Klamath River. They have secured traditional fishing rights and mobilized against the threats of dams and agriculture, setting an example for Native environmental rights.
Barbara, Decolonizing The Diet, Tending The Wild.
59:40
his series examines how humans are necessary to live in balance with nature and how traditional practices can inspire a new generation of Californians to tend their environment
Active loading indicator