First Nations Health Authority: Food is Medicine
Photo by Ava Tyler on Unsplash
The First Nations Health Authority (FHNA) has recently published the Common Language Report, with accompanying Toolkit, which explores the language we use and the values we hold when discussing topics surrounding food: food security, nutrition, medicine, and traditional foods.
The FHNA notes that practicing the concept that ‘Food is Medicine’ requires us to slow down and notice where our food comes from. It is an opportunity…
· to wait for the proper foods to be harvested during the proper season
· to learn from the cycles of nature around us
· to listen to the foods, lands and waters on what they need from us
The toolkit, Understanding Common Language: A toolkit for understanding and reflecting on the words Traditional Foods, Food Security, Nutrition and Medicine is available for download at https://www.fnha.ca/Documents/FNHA-Understanding-Common-Language.pdf The introduction to the toolkit notes, “When we encounter a word, whether it is spoken or written, we associate a meaning behind that word that highlights our cultural and societal perspectives. The context of our life sets the tone for how we will interpret and understand a word. This toolkit is designed to support us to feel and understand these words in a new way and a way that is grounded more in community, lived experiences. The goal of this resource is for all of us to gain insight into how these words could inform conversations with Indigenous communities.”
The web page at: https://www.fnha.ca/about/news-and-events/news/food-is-medicine-taking-a-pause-to-listen-to-the-sounds-of-community-food-and-wellness provides an opportunity “to pause and listen to the sounds of community as they talk about what food and wellness means to them”. Regional maps contain QR codes to audio clips to hear from Knowledge Holders, Elders and community members across various language groups that participated in the Common Language Project.
The toolkit contains a worksheet for each of the four terms:
· One side of the worksheet provides a thoughtful and culturally relevant definition of each term. These definitions were created in conversation with community and are surrounded by photographs, to best situate the term in its natural landscape.
· The flip side of the worksheet sets the term into the context of our work, society and how we might interact with it on a day-to-day basis. Some food-related terms can be so common in our work that they may feel mundane. Their social context has rarely been interrogated. The way we understand these words can have a significant impact on how we engage and can affect the people we are trying to support.
· For each term there is an ‘iceberg’ visual that attempts to highlight the complexity of each term and how deep their meaning can go:
o What is visible? - “simple, taken-for-granted aspects that come to mind when thinking, talking or utilizing these terms”.
o What is not visible? – including “connections to relationship, community and culture”, often not visible “because for a long time they were illegal, forbidden, and forced underground”.
o What is hidden? – hidden history in the use of these terms within an Indigenous context that have been used “to benefit colonial systems and have often created lasting trauma”.
On the FNHA web page:
· You can listen to all of the knowledge holders, Elders and community members' voices in the Common Language Project YouTube playlist.
· The FNHA wants to hear about your traditional food practices and see your photos, e.g., smoking fish, drying meat, picking berries, canning, whatever it is you do! Send your stories or photos to the FNHA's Wellness Team at Wellness@fnha.ca, or tag @FNHA or #foodismedicinefnha . You can also share on the Food is Medicine page right here.