Loud Indigenous Food with Pyet Despain

In this nourishing conversation, Matika and Temryss sit down with Pyet DeSpain (Prairie Band Potawatomi and Mexican), chef, entrepreneur, storyteller, and the first-ever winner of Gordon Ramsay’s Next Level Chef. Fresh from finishing her debut cookbook, Rooted in Fire: A Celebration of Native American and Mexican Cooking, Pyet shares the streams that brought her to this monumental point in her career and together we explore the meaning of being rooted in fire: cooking with passion, with purpose, with seasonality, and with reverence for the land that feeds us.

Pyet reminds us that food is never just food — it is ceremony, resistance, community care, and lineage. It is how we remember who we are. With tenderness, she shares the deep spiritual work of reclaiming identity; the moments of grief and illumination that came with saying no to extractive opportunities; and the healing that arrives when we follow the recipes our grandmothers left for us in stories, memories, and the land itself.

TW: This episode includes discussion of suicide. Please take care while listening.

Filled with laughter, truth, plant medicine teachings, and the joy of returning to one’s roots, this conversation is for anyone longing to reconnect — to culture, to the land, to purpose, or to the fire within. So pull up a chair, relatives. This episode is fragrant with memory, alive with story, and served with the kind of warmth that lingers long after the last bite.

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Credits:

Film Production by Francisco “Pancho” Sánchez

Edited by Mandy Yeahpau and Francisco “Pancho” Sánchez

Produced by Matika Wilbur

Co/hosted by Temryss Lane

Social Media by Katharina Mei-Fa Brinschwitz

Episode Transcript:

Hello, relatives. Welcome back to all my relations. I'm Matika Wilbur, Swinamish, and

Tulip Tribal member. I'm a mama of two adorable girls. So adorable.

I think they're so cute. They're mine. They're the cutest. I'm a wifey. I just had

my anniversary last night. I'm surviving being a wife.

My husband is surviving me. And I'm the co -host of this fine podcast.

Hi, everyone. My name is Temris Lane from Lummi Nation. I also am a wifey

unofficially, soon to be, we'll see. And a mama,

a strategist, a storyteller, a sister, and I couldn't be more thrilled than to be

joined by another incredible indigenous woman, Piet de Spain, Prairie band Potawatomi

and Mexican, most notably known for winning the first season ever of Next Level Chef

Gordon Ramsey's show. Piette, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, thank you for

having me. Bonjour Piet Wettmokwe and Deshna Gajmushkotini, Badawadami, and Al.

I am Piette. Piet Wittmokwe is my indigenous given name. It was a name passed down

by my great -grandmother, Cecilia Mitchell, and the Purban Potawatwamy Nation resides

in Mejeda, Kansas, and I'm also Mexican -American, and I also have indigenous roots

to Sucac and Fox Nation as well from Oklahoma. And what does Piet mean? So Piet

Watmoque is loosely. The translation means something loud coming towards you.

Sorry.

Stephanie is my actual given name. And then for our our nation for Potawatomi folks.

We keep our namesakes in the family. I want to go back to before Gordon Ramsey,

before next level chef, you know, like you were grinding. I did some research. I've

read some of your articles, listen to some of your podcasts. And I know you took

the long road, right? You took the long hard road to get there. And I think, you

know, everybody goes, everybody says like, oh, you know, like, oh, she's like this

overnight sensation and I would argue that it was not overnight. No. Right? It was

a long uphill battle. So I want to hear a little bit about, you know, your

sacrifice, your commitment, like, you know, your grind, what it took to get there.

Talk about it, your journey to getting on to that show in the first place. Yeah.

You know, I love talking about the struggle. I love talking about the grind because

it really allows folks to understand that, like you said, it's not an overnight

success. And there are so many chefs out there that are fighting tooth and nail for

a chance that I got, you know, and I want to inspire them. I drove across the

United States in my car with my cat, whatever, didn't fit in my car, didn't come

with me. And I was just like living on a prayer literally. I had started my

private chef business in Kansas City right after culinary school pietz plate 10 years

strong and now 10 years strong by the time it was in my earlier you know days of

operating a business and being an entrepreneur and I was also working the automotive

industry so that was my full -time job and I was chefing part -time and I have a

friend that ended up moving to LA and she was like you need to get out of Dodge

you know get out of Kansas you're bigger than Kansas and like you have dreams and

aspirations And the only way that you're really going to get there is if you go to

a city or a place where there are needs for private chefs. Because in Kansas, there

wasn't much need for it there. So I had a lot of trouble growing my business. And

I was just trying to get people to eat more than just steak and potatoes there.

I'm like, y 'all ever try asparagus? So I decided to make that decision to move to

L .A. And, you know, to the, would you call it the city of dreams? Yes, the city

of dreams and despair. And despair. And when I got there, you know, it broke and

broken hearts and snakes. So many snakes.

Way too many. Yeah. Especially if you've been there for over a decade. It's best

not to go back.

But after a couple of years, I finally started gaining traction. But I had to

literally like go out into this new city, this girl from Kansas, not knowing

anything from anywhere. The first three months, I was terrified. I didn't leave my

apartment. I was like, what am I doing? Have I made a mistake, you know? What did

you get on like the casting network? What did you get on? How did you start? How

did you start with? I have a very amazing, amazing friend that I went to high

school with and he actually kept telling me you need to get you need to be on TV

you need to be on TV and I'm just like no this was my friend from Kansas and I

would just like roll my eyes he's still like one of my best friends still today

his name is alfino shout out alfino and he was he would just like you need to be

on TV you need to be on TV you need to be on TV well I guess he actually

applied for Master Chef on my behalf and was like they're going to call you and

you need to be on this show so I did get a phone call and I ended up you know

I was like okay I'll help you so I sent them

casted for this baking show, Cupcake Wars. And I was like, no, I'm good.

I'm not a, I mean, I'm not a baker. And I don't want to take up space in places

that don't feel like they're aligned with my dreams. You're not trying to do TV

just to do TV. Exactly. And then I got called to do Hell's Kitchen. And I was

like, I got casted for Hell's Kitchen. And then at the last minute, I was like,

no, this is not for me. I'm a very intuitive person, so I follow my intuition, and

something was like, this ain't it. And so I'm like, okay, so I said no. And then

on this grind and journey of figuring life out as an entrepreneur, I finally quit

my full -time job, and I started doing chefing full -time instead of, you know, I

got out of the automotive industry. While you were in L .A. While I was in L .A.,

and I started focusing on indigenous food ways and, like, reconnecting to my culture

because I'm in L .A. I don't have family. I had a handful of friends. None of them

were indigenous. None of them were Latina. None of them were Mexican. I felt

homesick. And I'm just like, where do I find the brown people? You know,

and I'm in Hollywood. And we all know there's not a lot of color out there, you

know? So I was like, where are the people that are like I can identify with and

like relate to? And so I'm like, well, what if I start cooking the type of food

that I'm most passionate about and lead these trending diets to, you know, leave

that to somebody else? And I want to focus on food that represents me. The moment

that I'd made that decision is the moment that everything started changing for me.

And that's when I got the call for next level chef. Prior to that, I got asked to

do a video for BuzzFeed. And they were like, hey, do you want to do a video for

BuzzFeed and talking about Native American food. He goes, what's a snack, a quick,

easy snack? Nothing's easy with native food. Why don't we just talk about the

history of fry bread? Everyone knows what fry bread is. So I made this video. I

sent it into BuzzFeed. They put it on their platform. That video got over 3 million

views. That was, that video filtered more people to my social media platform. So I

started building my social media following. And then that accumulated with this

application that was rolling in the studio Ramsey world kind of like submerged and

they like looked me up and they're like oh she's got a following she's doing native

food she's unique who is this girl and then they called me I remember I was on a

Wednesday and I was out at lunch and I got this call and they were like hey this

is so -and -so from Ramsey studios would you be interested in doing an interview for

this show And I was like, yeah, I win. And they were like, today. And I was like,

oh, okay. And then everything happened so fast. So from the moment that I did,

took the call, did the interview, that was a Wednesday. The following Friday, I was

on a flight going to Las Vegas to film for this show. I was the very last person

that they had casted for this show. And I was a fill in for another person that

dropped out. And then the winner. And then I become the winner. So that's really

what happened. That's the story and the rest is history. That's great. I just love

that you said no to these other shows and you're like, I can't, I can't say yes

to these because I got to say yes to the one that I'm going to win. Yeah, right?

Well, had I said yes to those, I would have been qualified for this show. They

would have been like, oh, you're already on another one. We can't cast yeah wow but

also in the at the time like I didn't feel confident as a chef like enough in my

in my work to be like yeah I'm going to go on national television and compete when

I got that call I was like I felt confident enough that okay there's home cooks

there's professionals there's private chefs that seems like a good mix for me so

that's why I said yes wow do you like remember the moment on next level chef when

the judges tasted something indigenous that you cooked or maybe for the very first

time, and what was their reaction like? Oh, yeah. I mean, there's a whole episode.

It's a burger challenge. Everyone, I mean, I was crying my eyes out on that

episode. Yeah, it was a burger challenge, and I felt like the first couple episodes

of that show, I didn't know what I was doing. I was like a fish out of water. I

think all of us were. And once I won that challenge, I really was like, okay, I

got to start, I got to continue to do this, but it was a burger, and I put a

Wojopi barbecue sauce, like a berry barbecue sauce, and I had learned about Wojapi

from a community member and at a potluck, and she had brought this,

like, big thing of, like, Waujapi, and we were, like, tasting. You were like, oh,

my gosh, it's so delicious. What is this? And she was, like, explaining it to us,

and she was a Lakota woman. that was my introduction to that and that ever since

then I was like oh I love that like I'm going to put that in my repertoire of

recipes and things that I do and then on the show I whipped it out and they were

just like amazed and the words from Gordon were it's so full of heritage and that

was the thing that like really resonated with me the most because you don't get to

see a lot of indigenous chefs in these spaces and here I am with this opportunity

and I'm like I'm so happy and glad and proud of myself for for representing in

that particular challenge and that was kind of like the breakthrough moment for me

and what does it feel like to be the first like the breakthrough moment for you

but also representing Indian country Indian country Native America you know while I

was filming that show I had felt more connected spiritually than I ever had in my

entire life. And also, I'm in a hotel room in Las Vegas. And it was post -COVID,

so we didn't have any outside time. So we, anytime that we were not on set

filming, we were in our hotel room. And we were not allowed to, like, go hang out

in other hotel rooms. We were not able to go out and go eat breakfast

and go to strip club. We didn't get to gamble. And if they were like, if we catch

you like outside of your rooms, you're going to be disqualified. And like they were

just really worried about COVID and for obvious reasons. And they didn't want anyone

to get sick and have to get sent home or whatever. So it was 2022, 2021. Yeah. We

filmed in 2021.

So it was still very much so alive. And so, man, it was just a crazy time so I

felt very like connected because all I did was pray because I'm like oh my gosh I

have this opportunity and I internally was going emotionally going through a lot I

had a friend that warning trigger warning my friend she she committed suicide the

first day that I filmed next level chef it was the very first day that we were on

set and um at that moment I was like I'm not going to go on with this.

I'm going to go home and I'm going to process my feelings and like, this is so

crazy. I can't be here and I was like heartbroken. But that was an opportunity for

me to really dig deep and figure out, you know, what am I going to, what am I

here for? And if I'm going to stay here, I need to be here for a reason. And

that's when things kicked into that other other realm of, yeah. You brought up this

really sensitive subject. And I think, I think it's important for the youth, right

that have navigated especially native youth they're navigating the realities of the

and the impacts of colonization which can often translate to really difficult things

like suicide and so going out into the community representing yourself and relating

and navigating these really hard moments I think is imperative for youth to hear

about absolutely you know i i have unfortunately have experience with this subject

because it's near and hits home for me i had a very traumatic experience when i

was younger with a very close family member of mine that attempted and didn't

succeed thank goodness but because of that i get emotional about it but um Sorry.

You can take a moment.

That was unexpected, but because of that experience,

I think it's important for our community to understand that although the world around

us can seem very dark, that there is so much beauty and so much light that the

world and life has to offer. Had I personally also not broken outside of this

barrier or this ceiling that society has put onto me or it puts onto other people

from our community. Had I not been able to break outside of that, who knows what

life would look like for me, but I get to live this beautiful life that I've

built. Can you talk to us a little bit about how your grandparents and your

relatives rooted your identity and food? And can you paint us a picture of those

kitchens and that relationality in those kitchens? I can't remember what year it was

specifically, but I asked my grandmother if I could help the aunties and her make

tamales. And then so for like, for us, Christmas Eve is the big day for Latinos,

mostly. And that was the day that we would cook together, be together in the

kitchen, and that would be the night that all of the aunties and my grandma, and

Sometimes my uncles, too, because my uncles love to cook, we would all be making

tamales. And the one year that I asked, I was like, interested. And I'm like, hey,

grandma, can I help? And she was like, sure. So she's like, come on. And I got

right next to her and just her showing me how to put the masa on the cornhus. It

just kind of graduated, you know, my interest from there. That was a pivotal moment.

But before that point, which tamale making is very important. Before that, it was

just a little bitty task. But then I was like, oh, this is a monumental moment.

I'm not just cleaning beans. I'm not just peeling the potatoes. I'm like a part of

the assembly line now. Well, you know, food is ceremony, right? Where all of, for

me, all of the biggest moments in my life with my aunties and my grandma's happened

in the kitchen. My mom, when I was growing up, had a little restaurant. It was a

seated table. You know, we would go fishing, catch all of the fish, catch all the

salmon, catch all the crab, and then she would sell it, and she had like a little

farmer's market in the little town adjacent to where I grew up in Swinamish. And in

the spring and summertime, we did salmon plates and Indian tacos and all different

types of salmon sandwiches, oyster sandwiches. My mom was doing it with salmon and

fresh like three sisters things. Because we were a res operation, We were

legitimately, we didn't carry hours. People in town knew we were open because the

fire was going, you know? Like, they could smell it in town because my mom was

cooking over an open fire. Like, not following any of the laws or goats or doing,

just like really doing what she wanted to do. And by the way, this, what you're

explaining is like every chef's dream. Like, oh, I could just go catch up the day

and I have my little small business. Yeah. I mean, it was really wild and all my

aunties worked in the kitchen i mean everybody that worked for us was family and so

my favorite memories you know i think of like my aunt lisa who's now passed but i

mean it was the it was a tiny kitchen we always said like this is a two -butt

kitchen and if you have a big butt it's a one butt kitchen and we used to always

joke that one day we're going to have enough money that we're going to build an

eight -butt kitchen and when my mom an eight -butt kitchen, you know, so eight -buts

can all fit in her at the same time. My mom came to my house and she's like, you

finally built an eight -butt kitchen. I cried. You know, why you guys widened it. We

probably made it. All the butts in there, you know. Like, yeah, those moments, those

moments in the kitchen. And I still feel that way. Like, when my mom makes bread,

there's something really special that happens. Or when my, you know, when my uncles

cook fish for us, there's something really nostalgic and beautiful and special about

the way we care for each other with food you also are getting ready to release

your book and in it you talk about these indigenous philosophies of being a keeper

of fire the medicine wheel the spirit plate yes so the name of the book is rooted

in fire a celebration of native american and mexican cuisine so ultimately it is a

Ultimately, it is a fusion cookbook. It's filled of all the recipes that really are,

like, deeply connected to my journey of reconnecting to my indigenity and things that

I've learned along the way, but also recipes that I grew up eating and that are

those nostalgic recipes and dishes that remind me of home. In the book,

I do talk about being a firekeeper and I introduced the spirit plate and the

medicine will. And the reason why I wanted to include those things is because those

are at the center and core of indigenous beliefs, especially for myself and for my

nation, for being Pottawatomie. There's a lot of language, Potawatomi language, not a

lot, but there's like a hint of it at every chapter of keeping that language alive.

And so being a firekeeper is my, me keeping that responsibility and upholding that

to keep our traditions alive. And I wanted to make sure people understood what

rooted in fire actually means. Of course, it's the technical like, oh, we're going

to cook with fire because that's the best way and the most tasty food comes from

when you're cooking directly with fire. But it's also cooking with that passion and

it's where the rootedness of that passion comes from from me. So I talk about that

in the book a lot. And for first time, you know, people that are addressing

indigenous food or Native American food for the first time and they've never, they

don't know much about it, I thought it was important for them to understand the

balance of all things. And we'd learn that through the medicine will and through the

different seasons and the different chapters of our lives and understanding our

connection to the plant medicines. So I wanted to make sure that that was included

because that was something that was important to me. You know, when I think about a

firekeeper, I think of, you know, the people that take care of the fire throughout

the night and that beautiful way that they take care of the fire, you know, like

with the tail. I don't know if you do, no, but the really beautiful ways that

people take care of fire. And then I think of the people that take care of fire

in like in our long houses. Absolutely. Being told that I've been a keeper addresses

the fact that the Apatawatomi, like we in our relationships with other,

you know, nations that are nearby, like we were out of the council, the firekeepers.

And so they would keep that council fire alive. But then also within our own

practices with our ceremony, there's always a fire that we're keeping alive during

naming ceremony. And, and we have drum circles. And there's always a fire involved.

So there's always someone responsible for that. So the very technical part of our

ceremony that is always there, and it represents that spirit. But when it comes to

women keeping the fire, I remember that all the aunties and the grandmas, cooking

over the fire. Cooking over the fire. And it's hot. Because, like, you're from

Pahaska, right? And they have the hominy and gray horse and, you know, all of those

dances. Yeah. And the women cook over an open fire. Over and up and fire. And it's

like 110 degrees outside. Yeah. I have seen some indiginuity,

you know, happening during Greyhorse because my uncle, he's Potawatomi and Osage, and

this is why my grandma was there. We would go to their ceremony and the women are

there cooking over fire. And I would see, I literally saw this woman had somehow

this electric stove out in the middle of nowhere in like a barn or something you

know and I was like that's crazy I'm like but she's on to something but um I

would always see the women cooking over the fire and they were the one always doing

like all the labor intensive work but that is their tradition that's their you know

that's the the protocols that they follow that was also a big inspiration for me

growing up, reconnecting with, with, you know, those traditional food ways. Although

I'm not Osage, I did grow up seeing that, and I grew up practicing the same

traditions that they did because that's where I lived at the time. Yeah. I remember

being in Head Start learning Osage, because they were teaching the language there at

the Head Start, and my mom was a teacher there. My mom is not Osage either,

teaching other It's Osage language because that was just a part of their curriculum.

So, yeah, that was a really cool time.

What does indigenous food sovereignty mean, not just as a buzzword, but in practice?

It's a movement. It's not a trend. It's a movement. And, yeah, it's more than just

a buzzword. You know, that is the livelihood of a lot of our stories. And the way

that I have seen indigenous food Sovereignty is being an active growing living

archive of all of our stories and our connections and the way that I explain it to

a lot of folks is like, and our indigenous foods are just like you and I. We have

our stories where we were born, where we come from, we've migrated, we've moved

here, we've moved there, we've had all these experiences. We've cross -pollinated.

Exactly, we cross -pollinated. And our foods also have those stories. And if we gave

the attention and the time to listen to them and to also connect with them,

just like we do, we make friends with one another. And we should be doing that

with our food systems as well and understanding that those lives and those stories

should be able to live on past just our generation. And the only way that that

happens is if we practice food sovereignty and we teach it. And so for me, that's

what food sovereignty means. It's really actively doing it and practicing it and also

supporting the people that are in our communities doing the work to preserve it and

revitalize it. The seed keepers, the foragers, the gatherers, the hunters, the folks

that are in our communities doing the food sovereignty programs, like supporting them.

And so that's what food sovereignty means to me. I mean, I live in L .A. I don't

have the ability to go out and like hunt and forage and gather in my neighborhood.

That would be weird because there's nothing but stray cats. So it's like. Now that

you're an East LA girl. Yeah, exactly. But so when I do have the opportunity to

learn from folks that are doing that work, I want to make sure that I'm like

giving them the opportunity to like shine and put them in the spotlight that they

deserve because it's a lot of work. and it's an emotional tie that we have to our

work as well. You know, when I think about food sovereignty, I always think about

like the origins of us needing food sovereignty, right?

Like we were fully sustainable people before colonizers arrived, right?

We weren't dependent on wheat or commodity foods or dairy, right?

We didn't have all of these types of foods. And so when the cavalry came,

the first thing they came after was our food systems, right? And I think of that

photo of the bison's, the bison skulls,

but also, you know, like, the dead fish. Yeah, and also it was made illegal here

for us to go fishing. It was made illegal for us to be on the water. More than

five native people on the water here was considered a war party, and we legitimately

had to have fish wars, you know, wars where we went out and fished anyways, even

though police officers were saying we had no right to fish. For a very long time,

for hundreds of years, our people were purposely disconnected from our food systems,

and that's why there's a need for food sovereignty. So when you say it's a

movement, it's about public policy, it's about law in the Supreme Court,

it's about the right to hunt and gather in our usual in accustomed territories, and

then it's also the right to then take those traditional food systems, bring them

into our homes, and feed them to our babies. You're doing something about this,

though, right now. With the cookbook, it's the fusion, because before that border

existed, there were these intertribal connections, you know, or I hate saying the

word tribe, because that's something that was given to us post -colonization, but like

these communities of indigenous people with their ingredients were using them as

barter systems like that was the currency that they were using like tools and like

things that they can make clothing with and foods and dry foods and beans and all

of these things were able to be traded and bartered amongst you know indigenous

folks and so my goal with my cookbook is the modern day approach let's take the

things that are accessible to us and our grocery stores and then like let's switch

our perspective on them and our intentionality of the way that we eat and connect

with them or even if we want to like step outside of that grocery store and go to

a farmer's market and figure out how to build those connections to our food and to

our farmers like the squash and the tomatoes that we have in the grocery stores are

genetically not the same ancestral foods that we once ate but at least I can honor

the food and the storyline storyline and I can learn how to make it healthier and

still taste good by bringing in some of these spices that are coming from our next

door neighbor, Mexico, you know, in the South America, you have all these beautiful

spicy flavors and like the sasson. That's where that comes from. And so merging

these two things together in a way that's familiar but also intentional is like my

perspective and that's where I'm in my journey. And eventually I will graduate and

evolve and my taste buds will be different and more sophisticated in that way of

like the ancestral foods but right now i'm at the beginning stage is just where a

lot of people are and i'm learning and i'm teaching folks you know like how to

address it in the modern day world in an urban city yeah you have i saw the

trailer of a new show where you literally go into communities yeah and you go to

the source. We're talking about no grocery stores. You forage, you fish.

You went to Haidaway, right? Is that where you went? Yeah, we went to Haidaberg. Is

that the same? No, no, it's not. Okay. They're not the same. Have you been? I've

never been. Yeah, we went to Heidelberg. It was beautiful. You went fishing? We went

fishing. Oh my gosh. Okay, so Alaska's my favorite place on the planet. Before

Hawaii was like my place and like I really connected with Hawaii and that was like

anytime I got an opportunity to like go on vacation I was going to Hawaii and I

really was able to build community there with some other indigenous chefs and learn

a lot from them so with the show it's called spirit plate it's a six episode

series short series they're about 12 minute episodes it'll be streaming on PBS's

platform but we went to six different indigenous communities. Hydeburg was one of

them, and we really connected with local, obviously, Haida, people there, and we went

fishing. And we caught six 100 -plus pound halibut.

This was my first, oh, my gosh, with their eyes on top.

Huge, and I had never in my life seen fish like this big and I was like oh my

gosh and we got six of them so so much meat so we're just like pulling it in you

know and get to hear all the stories and and then we took the fish straight onto

the dock fillet them right then and there and then took that meat and then went to

the long house I cooked for 35 elders in the community and then whatever meat was

left over we gave it out to the community and it was just such a beautiful

experience And our communities talk about honoring elders all the time. But I have

never been in a community that really honors elders the way that these people did.

And it was so beautiful the way that they just, they know the community needs and

they give back to the community. Like communally, like it actively practices their

traditions and practices that care for the elders. and they're all taking care of

one another. And it was really beautiful the way that they give back to the elders

and hearing the stories and talking with them. They are just like, our elders, the

elders that are like, yeah, we're so well taken care of. We need for nothing in

our community. And just to hear that was so special to me. But going to the source

directly to the ocean, like seeing that connection that those folks have with that

land, they've been there forever. They know, they just know the lay of the land

they have those stories and it was very very beautiful and relationships exactly and

me coming from a reservation of displaced people you know our people don't you know

weren't always in kansas we come from the great lakes and the potawatomi folks up

north by the great lakes and we migrated down during the um trail of uh trail of

death and so i didn't have that same connection to land like indigenously but being

there with Haida people and some of these other folks that I've been able to go

and travel to we went up to Syracuse it's I guess not Syracuse but it's near

Syracuse but to the Onondogne Nation and and go to the seed bank that Angela

Ferguson has been able to collect and oh my gosh just the connection that these

folks have with the food that they're taking care taking care of the land and

taking care of that connection and empowering their community. It's just so beautiful

and special. So, yeah, I was able to be able to do that and, like, really see and

feel and touch and smell and eat all of the food that comes directly from the

source and the land and hear the stories. It was very beautiful. Yes. That's food

sovereignty and action. Food sovereignty and action. And then people get to witness

it, they get to watch it, and they get to see how diverse our communities are

regionally and how diverse the food systems are. And yeah, it was very special. And

I'm excited for people to see it, you know, it's something that I wanted to do

even before Next Level Chef. And it's taken a long time for it to be produced.

But finally, someone said, hey, this is interesting. Let's work on it. And now it's

come into fruition, and I'm so excited about it. It's amazing. And then you also

talk about spirit plates. How do you talk about it in your book? Absolutely. Or out

in the world? Yes. So spirit plate for me, what we're taught to believe is that it

is a prayer and a thanks to those that came before us that pass down that

generational knowledge and the ancestral knowledge. And it also is a prayer to the

seven generations that come after us. And so that spirit plate for me, and in this

book, really represents a prayer to both of those things, those that come before,

those that come after, and the work that we're doing now. And it's a representation

of that. And I allow people to understand what it means to do it,

even if you're not indigenous, just to have that same mindset and intentionality.

There are some folks, which I know for sure, don't like me sharing that information

or me sharing what a spirit plate is to non -indigenous people because then they

think, oh, you're giving other people permission to utilize and appropriate our

ceremonial beliefs. But the way that I see it is we are taught that these ancestral

foods, at least for me at a young age, we're only around during ceremony. They're

only around during special times. We're only doing the spirit plate when it's

ceremony. But why can't we make that a part of our everyday life and living with

that intentionality, especially in a time like today? Why do we have to save it

just for the special times? We should be approaching our daily lives with that same

intentionality. Our lives are a ceremony. We exist because of that strong ancestral

belief. And although we have mixed blood and we come from all these places, each of

us sit at this table because our work is rooted in our ancestral bloodline and the

things that we're most passionate about. In my heart and in my mind, that is

ceremony. Our lives are living, breathing ceremonies. And I invite other people to

learn what that means for them. You don't have to practice it the same that we do.

And I'm not telling them how to do it. I'm just saying this is what it represents.

Sure. Well, and like about this cookbook and about the work we're doing with Valerie

with old growth table and this food expo you were at and the reason you're here in

Seattle and this all this whole work around like the food sovereignty project is to

make traditional foods and our traditions more accessible to us on a daily basis.

Absolutely. Like that is the work and it's we've like you said like every day is a

ceremony but we often feel disconnected from ceremony because You know, we're living

in a modern world. So it's kind of like, can we carve out space and time in our

everyday lives for that ceremony, for that healing, for those ancestral foods,

you know? For the healing. And I think right now we all need more collective

healing. My partner's auntie just passed away. She was composted.

Really interesting, like immediately returns to the earth. So they spread her. They

spread her compost up at the land in Cleellum where they have land. There's like a

fire pit and they didn't have any ceremony. So I actually helped with that because

I have a lot of experience in death. Yeah. I did put out a spirit plate and I

was able to say to some of the women, don't take this away. This isn't just

leftover. I'm putting this here and I put it like on the top of the fire rocks.

Like this is a spirit plate the spirit plate i came back and it was gone right

like someone like cleaned it someone like cleaned it up so like i mean to your

point it was like it i she was my auntie too you know i was able to take care

of her in the way that i know how it was beautiful it was like crab you know it

was like yummy delicious food and to be able to share that good medicine um and

you know i didn't tell people more Like, just don't clear this. This is spirit

plate. And only a few people knew that. But I think that there is something to it.

This isn't something only on special occasions. We need to take care of our

relatives and our, you know, our family, our community, even the ancestors that have

passed on. Absolutely.

All my relations.