For many Indigenous people involved in the food sovereingty movement, reconnecting to ancestral foods is extremely powerful. Every time someone learns a new recipe, plants a seed, and feasts together, we are helping to transmit knowledge, technologies, and skills from one generation to the next. In this episode, we'll talk with Shelley Buffalo—Meskwaki seed keeper—about her experience of revitalizing cultural foods, growing practices, and language. We'll also talk about her involvement in the growing seed rematriation movement, which is helping to return heritage seeds to their communities of origin.

Topics covered in this episode:


Min 2:08: Meet Shelley Buffalo of the Meskwaki tribe

Min 6:35: Favorite ancestral foods 

Min 9:07: Shelley’s journey to seedkeeping

Min 15:16: The experience of rematriation

Min 18:09: Seed keepers as cultural memory keepers

Min 19:13: Removing barriers

Min 22:42: Healing through traditional food practices

Min 25:09: Struggles with language

Min 30:00: Looking ahead 

Min 32:27: Improving land access



 

Spirit Plate is part of the Whetstone Radio Collective. Learn more about this episode of Spirit Plate at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at /WhetstoneRadio.

Guest: Shelley Buffalo (@kiwate_restlessheart)