'A gift is not a gift until we share it'
Exploring Indigenous foods with Chef Sam Anglin
The Eatery was loud on Nov 21, and a warm aroma filled the air. A line filled with curious students looped from the Flame station and around the Studio 989 station to watch Chef Sam Anglin do a cooking demonstration of Indigenous food.
A wide variety of food was served for attendees, including:
- Manoomin Wild Rice Three Sisters' Salad with Maple Sage Dressing
- Manoomin Wild Rice Three Sisters' Casserole with Maple Roasted Squash and Ground Buffalo
- Vegetarian Wild Rice Soup with “Three Sisters'” and Forest Mushrooms
- Tossed Salad with a Strawberry Maple Vinaigrette and Blueberry Sweet Grass Vinaigrette
- Manoomin Wild Rice Sweet Treat with Fresh Berries
- Blue Cornbread and Blueberry Bread Pudding
The event started with a demonstration. Anglin stood in front of the crowd and demonstrated how the Three Sisters' Manoomin Salad with Maple Sage Dressing was made. After this, he encouraged everyone to eat.
“A gift is not a gift until we share it,” Anglin said.
Rebecca Szoboszlay, a sophomore here at CMU, saw the event on Instagram and was interested to see what it was all about.
“(It’s) great to bring awareness of different cultures, especially on a college campus,” Szoboszlay said.
Amy Probst, the marketing director for CMU Dining, said that Anglin came to CMU for the same event last year, and since it was so popular, they decided to bring it back this year.
“We put on quite a few events like this each semester,” Probst said. “We don’t want our dining halls to feel like a grab-and-go all the time.”
Anglin said he has been a chef for more than 30 years but has more recently started cooking traditional Indigenous foods. He grew up in Claire, and is part of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
Through his time as a chef, he has been part of the Intertribal Food Summit, which are events where Indigenous people across the nation come together to make traditional food.
Students wait in line to taste Indigenous food made by Chef Sam Anglin at 5pm on Thursday, Nov 21 at the Eatery.
The foods served had a major focus on Manoomin or “good berry” in Ojibwemowin, which is a kind of wild rice found in Michigan, Anglin said. Some other ingredients that showed up a lot were berries, and “Three Sisters,” which are corn, bean and squash.
Manoomin was found in many of the recipes served such as the Manoomin Wild Rice Three Sisters’ Salad with a Maple Sage Dressing, the Manoomin Wild Rice Three Sisters' Casserole and the Manoomin Wild Rice Sweet Treat.
“We hold the strawberries and the blueberries special to our heart,” Anglin said.
Anglin said that Manoomin is now Michigan’s official grain for the state to help preserve wild rice. He said that before massive construction, the land was filled with Manoomin.
“(It) brings balance to the whole ecosystem,” Anglin said. “Every lake, every river had wild rice.”
He said cooking is his way to reconnect with his culture and ancestors.
