Description:

LECTURE: 6PM-7PM

DINNER/RECEPTION: 7PM-8PM

This lecture, "A Journey of Healing," invites the audience to explore the profound intersection of Indigenous foodways, culinary practice, and personal wellness through the lived experience of an Indigenous Chef and Educator. Life inevitably presents hardships, but for many Indigenous peoples, these challenges are compounded by historical trauma and ongoing systemic issues. This talk shares how returning to and working with Indigenous foods has served as a powerful, multi-faceted medicine, facilitating deep healing of the mind, body, and spirit.

We will discuss how cultivating, preparing, and sharing traditional foods—from foraging to plate—reconnects us to ancestral knowledge, fosters cultural resilience, and nourishes the physical body with ancestral vitality. More than mere sustenance, this practice becomes a journey of self-discovery, fostering mental clarity, emotional grounding, and a revitalized spiritual connection to the land and community. This is a story of resilience, illustrating how embracing the legacy of Indigenous food sovereignty is not only a path to culinary excellence but a fundamental step toward holistic, intergenerational wellness.