Exhibit at the Muckleshoot Library explores revitalization of local native food traditions
Published 3:02 pm Friday, February 20, 2015
For the Reporter
The Muckleshoot Library presents a new exhibit from the Burke Museum, Salish Bounty: Traditional Native American Foods of Puget Sound.
The exhibit, on display in the library through April 12, spotlights the revival of traditional Coast Salish foods and explores the deep history of the area’s food traditions.
Salish Bounty is co-curated by Burke Museum archaeologists and Coast Salish advisors.
Salish Bounty — comprised of historic photo images, map and informative text printed on free-standing banners — reminds us that food isn’t solitary; cooking and eating are things we do with other people and express our cultural history and values.
The exhibit includes a four-minute audiovisual DVD, offering archaeological insight into Coast Salish food resources spanning thousands of years along the Duwamish River.
Knowledge of Coast Salish cuisine has been passed down from the elders and supplemented by archaeological and historical research. More than 280 kinds of plants and animals have been identified as ingredients in this cuisine.
Contemporary Coast Salish cooks incorporate traditional and newly introduced ingredients, sharing traditions to create healthy alternatives for families and communities still struggling with loss of lands and waters, drastically changed lifestyles and imposed industrial foods.
Salish Bounty provides a local perspective on a myriad of 21st century food issues and how, as in many places around the world, the revival of Coast Salish food traditions embodies the reestablishment of more healthful and sustainable practices that honor land and community.
The Muckleshoot Library is a part of the award-winning King County Library System. Located on State Highway 164, halfway between Auburn and Enumclaw, on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, the library serves tribal and non-tribal members, offering collections of books, magazines, music and DVDs for children, teens and adults, in addition to a variety of programs and services, including computer access and meeting room space.
The library has enhanced the Salish Bounty exhibit with a selection of books on foraging, ethnobotany, regional cookbooks and Native American history.
Salish Bounty: Traditional Native American Foods of Puget Sound has been organized by the Burke Museum, University of Washington, with co-curators Warren King George (Muckleshoot/Upper Skagit Indian Tribe) and Elizabeth Swanaset (Nooksack/Cowichan/Laq’amel Tribes).
