Food, glorious (Aboriginal) food

Don't be surprised if you walk past a well-known college in B.C. and notice the aromas of fresh bannock, braised bison and smoked trout coming from the campus.
Vancouver Community College's (VCC) culinary program with a focus in Aboriginal cuisine is taking off into its second year, and local First Nations chefs say it is a big step towards keeping the tradition of Aboriginal cooking alive.
"My dream is that 10 years from now, nobody will need to ask what Aboriginal cuisine is," said Chef Ben Genaille, the instructor for the VCC Aboriginal culinary program.
With more than 28 years experience as a chef in Vancouver, Genaille explained that the 12-month program is meant to provide students with all of the essential skills of a professional chef, but with the unique knowledge of creating gourmet Aboriginal meals.
The program, which will begin its second year in August 2009, provides students with instruction on how to prepare traditional Aboriginal dishes, but with a modern flare.
"We used to cook our food over fires and we had no refrigeration," said Genaille about the circumstances of preparing meals long ago. The recipes today are inspirations from typical ingredients Canadian Aboriginals once used, such as dandelion leaves, wild berries and bison.
Students spend the first eight months in the classroom and in the remaining four months, they put their new skills to the test in the Wild Salmon Restaurant on the VCC campus. Students cook and serve their meals to the public, as a type of practicum before they graduate and find employment.
Genaille said the immediate feedback from customers is the ideal way for students to learn.
Watching students learn to cook the food of their ancestors is one of the best parts of teaching, said Marlene Hale, a.k.a. Chef Maluh, who runs a catering business in Vancouver and offers cooking classes for all ages.
Originally born at Smithers, B.C. and part of the Wetsuweten First Nation, Hale is supportive of the Aboriginal culinary program at VCC and said it is a similar concept to the private classes she has recently offered Aboriginal youth who are typically not familiar with the food of their culture.
"They know foods of today like spaghetti, but they don't know Aboriginal food," said Hale. "I teach them and they are so happy they know what Aboriginal food is all about."
Many of Hale's dishes incorporate wild beans, salmon and wild game, foods she considers as signature ingredients for Aboriginal cuisine.
One of her recipes that receives the most animated response from her young students is Indian ice cream, which is made with an assortment of berries.
"Oh my God, you should see their faces," said Hale, who thrives on the excitement of the Aboriginal youth she said are eager to learn how to make their own food.
Hale makes a point to always tell her young students to pass on the recipes they learn from her to future generations. She said this is the only way for the traditional food to carry on.
Former restaurateur Dolly (Watts) McRae has not only passed on her knowledge of Aboriginal cooking to her daughter, the mother-daughter team has created a brand.
McRae and her daughter Annie Watts ran Liliget Feast House, a gourmet First Nations restaurant, in Vancouver for 12 years. The eatery closed its doors in December 2006.
The two went on to compile a cookbook of their best recipes in Where People Feast: An Indigenous People's Cookbook, which was published in 2007.
After spending more than a decade in the restaurant industry, McRae is confident that students who graduate from the Aboriginal culinary program at VCC won't have a problem finding a job.
"When [staff] quit my restaurant they were immediately hired by another because they wanted to know our secrets," said McRae. She recalled that mainstream restaurants were hungry for new techniques and dishes that were unique to Aboriginal cooking.
McRae said she is now retired and rarely cooks professionally. However her fans often ask when she will open a new restaurant.
Genaille agrees that there is a demand for Aboriginal components within the food industry in B.C. He is hopeful many of his students will go on to work in the Aboriginal Pavilion for the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics. He added some students could go on to become their own boss and create a new catering business or Aboriginal restaurant to fill the void.