Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce — a.k.a. Minnesota — to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.
Leah and Cole have a conversation with Derek Nicholas (Red Cliff Band of Ojibwe) about food sovereignty and Indigenous cooking. Derek shares his experiences as the Nutrition Program Coordinator at the Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis; his views on culturally, seasonally appropriate foods; and about the growing, multi-faceted Indigenous food community.
Derek authored the book Eating with the Seasons, Anishinaabeg, Great Lakes Region and is planning to start a non-profit cultural camp to gather, grow and cook Indigenous foods and connect future generations to cultural traditions of all types. He’s also the founder of Wiisinig LLC, a platform to showcase his food sovereignty work.
Chi-Miigwech to Derek for sharing with us today!
Find Wiisinig online: https://www.wiisinigllc.com/
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Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/
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