Red Huckleberry Cakes, Making of

From NarratingLandscapes

By Beth Calkin (User:bcalkin)

The plant materials used during this film were Red Huckleberry, Salal berries, Western Red-cedar and Skunk Cabbage.

In the film, the techniques demonstrated in the making of huckleberry cakes were not specifically ascribed to any one coastal First Nations group. Some techniques, however, were specific to individual groups. The Kwakwaka’wakw were the only First Nation group that used the neck basket described in the introduction to the film (Turner. 1995: 12). They were also the only group that used a wetted cedar board to separate huckleberries from the twigs and leaves (Turner. 1995: 88). The Kwakwaka’wakw, however, did not customarily mash and dry huckleberries in cakes; instead they boiled them, mixed them with salmon spawn and sealed them in cedar boxes topped with Skunk Cabbage leaves and Eulachon fat. Other groups, such as the Sto:lo and Nuxalk, made cakes using the methods described in the film. Still other groups, such as the Nuu-chah-nulth preferred to eat huckleberries fresh during the summer (Turner.1995: 88).

Please note, the reference made to Jeri Sparrow in the introduction of the film refers to Jeri Sparrow of the Musqueam First Nation who gave our class an ethnobotanical tour of Musqueam Park. Also note, the film refers to Nancy Turner as a Professor of Ethnobotany at the University of Victoria. She is actually a Distinguished Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria.

Enjoy the film!

[Insert link to You Tube here]

Bibliography:

Turner, Nancy. 1998. Plant Technology of First Peoples in British Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Turner, Nancy. 1995. Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Turner, Nancy. 2004. Plants of Haida Gwaii. Winlaw, British Columbia: Sononis Press.

Relationships involving this entry

This entry is not currently related to any others. Why not add a new relationship?

Other entries related to this one through a relationship

No other entries share relationships with this one. Why not add a new relationship?