Developing Tribal food policy for health and well-being

Tribal food sovereignty is the right of Indigenous Nations to define their own diets and shape food systems consistent with their spiritual and cultural values.

Over the course of several years, I had the honor and privilege to work with a team that was developing a model ordinance that addresses the use and limitation of pesticides in and around Tribal boundaries. The model ordinance was one part of a larger policy initiative to strengthen Tribal community well-being by amplifying control over the food system.

Food is about so much more than what a person eats. Food supports health, and health is one element of well-being. It is one thing to talk about health and protecting the environment, and quite another to create paths so that people can achieve well-being. The reason food policy is and should be important is to support a Tribal community’s well-being.

Defining Well-Being

The dictionary definition of well-being is “a good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity.” Onondaga Faithkeeper Oren Lyons once defined well being as “living a good life.” So, while health is one part of well-being, happiness, prosperity, and satisfaction with how one lives their life also contribute to well-being. Let’s look at what each of these elements mean by looking at how our Tribal ancestors lived prior to the European invasion.

Prosperity

At the most fundamental level, we can measure prosperity by whether we have sufficient resources for our necessities. Some aspects of economic prosperity include not having to worry about whether we will have enough nutritious food; having a permanent place to live that is not threatened by loss; having enough resources to make or trade for the necessities of life.

• Ancestral foods and medicines relied on a healthy environment. In Northern California where Sehoy LLC is located, North Coast communities-men, women, and families-worked together to ensure sufficient food throughout the year. Among other practices they smoked salmon and eels, hunted for elk and bear, gathered and dried berries, and stored acorns. Much different from Northern California Coastal Tribes, Mvscogee peoples in the southeastern area of Turtle Island grew corn, beans, squash, and many other foods and medicines; fished in rivers, estuaries, and in the salty waters of the Gulf Coast for fish and shellfish; and hunted for deer, alligator, birds, and even buffalo.

• Communal housing often sheltered entire families and were built by the entire community from resources at hand. In Northern California, Coastal Tribes built redwood slab homes and other structures to ensure the community was well-protected. Mvscogee houses were built around a town center, and constructed from mud plaster and cane or other natural materials, roofed with grass or wood. A healthy, well-tended landscape enabled Tribal communities to find ample resources to ensure safe, secure housing could be constructed.

• Popular resource materials in Coastal Northern California included grasses, roots, bark, hides, shells, and trees. These materials were used to construct an abundance of necessary items including clothing, baskets for a wide variety of purposes, canoes, tools, jewelry and other regalia, and many, many other things. Likewise, Mvscogee employed clay, trees and bark, grasses, metals, and shells to create the items they needed.

All the things that lead to prosperity come with responsibilities and a knowledge of the environment and climate conditions. Prosperity means that the things you need for your happiness are available when you need them, so that you don’t have to do without. There is also such a thing as having too much. Being greedy and hoarding means that others might not have the things that they need. There is a balance to maintain between doing without and hoarding.

Happiness

Contentment and satisfaction with life contribute to happiness. For individuals, core of happiness is loving oneself. It is impossible for a person to be happy if they do not love and take care of themselves, and it is impossible to be content or satisfied when your family and community is suffering. Living in poverty without the basic needs for survival means that you are not going to be contended. The contemporary economic systems in which we live tend to be set up to be systems structured for shortage. This separates communities into those that “have” and “have not.”

Communally-based systems are quite different. When work is a community affair, everyone does their part to ensure the survival of the members of the community. Traditional systems encouraged everyone to share in the bounty. One example is the practice of sharing fish with elders and those who are unable to fish on their own. When everyone’s needs are met, a community will have greater happiness overall when compared to communities in which some people hoard all the wealth while others struggle to survive. Ensuring everyone is taken care of brings contentment, satisfaction, and unity. Following ancestral teachings about gratitude and generosity increases a person’s happiness.

Health

Health is more than merely the absence of sickness. Health encompasses physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. In this article about pesticide regulation, we discuss physical health only, while recognizing that healthy minds, emotions, and spirits are also necessary for a person to have balanced wellness.

Foods are powerful. Nutritious food gives your body what it needs to build physical strength and maintain your muscles, bones, and organs. Traditional foods are our relatives and know how to fix us and keep us from becoming weak or sick.

Foods are important. Not all food is good for you. Refined carbohydrates and sugars can be especially harmful, particularly for those who suffer from diabetes. The traditional, “first foods” eaten by the ancestors are the most important foods of all, because they are the most nutritious. Knowledgeable teachers in Northern California coastal communities teach that their Tribes’ first foods of acorns, salmon or eels, and seaweed contain everything the people need to keep them healthy and well. Even in times of shortage, if a family had first foods stored away, they could still consume a healthy diet.

Foods are medicine. The earth is full of very important medicinal plants, that have a special responsibility to heal humans and other creatures who walk the earth, fly above, and swim in the water.

Foods change you. The things you eat can change you at a genetic level. For that reason it is important to eat nutritious foods that strengthen the systems of your physical body.

Plant health

Plants need to be healthy too. Plants that we use for food and medicine need to be free of chemical and genetic contaminants in order to do their work. Some plants make medicine for the body, and other plants make medicine for the spirit.

For example, bear grass is one plant that Northern California basket weavers use for making spirit medicine for baskets. When bear grass in forests is sprayed with cancer-causing chemical pesticides, the basket weavers become sick and the baskets retain the dangerous chemicals. Although basket weavers know that they can become sick with cancer from pesticides, some have decided to risk sickness so that they can carry on and pass down basket weaving traditions. They consider the art of basketweaving so important that they are committed to making the baskets in spite of the risks. One of the exciting opportunities in drafting a pesticide restriction was to help protect basketry materials and basket weavers.

What you can do

When you have a choice, choose foods that are fresh, low in pesticides, and not genetically engineered (genetically engineered foods also often rely on chemical pesticides). Although organic may have fewer pesticides, organically grown foods can cost more. If you have a place to grow your own food, learn how to plant, care for, and harvest your foods. If you have a place where you can hunt or fish, learn the skills you need to do these things safely and prepare caught fish and game properly. You can also learn how to prepare your own foods. If you do not have a place to hunt, fish, or grow, you can find someone in your community who can teach you and help you. Often people will need help in these areas and will trade the foods they grow or catch for your help. Gardeners, fishers, and hunters often share their knowledge as you work, so you can learn a lot from them.

When you have an opportunity to speak up for your community, remember that reducing pesticides in and around your Tribe’s reservation can increase the health of the whole community. If you want to help people get healthier and work toward well-being, one of the many ways to do that is by working on policies that can clean up the environment.

Remember that taking care of your family and community requires you to be healthy, so taking care of your own health is really a responsibility to your community.

This article was taken from a talk presented at the 2017 Bear River Youth Health Conference. Edited, updated, and published here with permission from the author.