"Salish Bounty"

"Salish Bounty," exhibited Feb. 14-June 24, looks at the food traditions of the Salish Peoples of Puget Sound. This travelling exhibit from the Burke museum presents the changes in food traditions, native recipies and food resources. The Lynden Pioneer Museum has added to it a local flavor and looks at the Nooksack food traditions in specific through images and artifacts from local collections.
The Nooksack nation is very closely linked to their food traditions. So much so that the name Nooksack… Show more is derived from European spelling of the word describing the heart of the Nooksack lands, a prarie near the mouth of Anderson creek. The name means 'Always Bracken Fern Root'. It describes a place that was bountiful and always full of bracken ferns, the roots of which were used as a dietary staple by the Nooksack. Many other local Nooksack Place names describe the food resources that could be found around Whatcom County. The Nooksack also had strong and long traditions of feasting and celebration.

The exhibit will also take a look at US efforts to change these traditions through organzied education such as the Stickney Island Mission School and other programs through the US government intended to remove Native Traditions and replace them with European Traditions.

Finally the exhibit will look at how Native Food traditions influenced settlers food traditions. Many settlers arrived in a land they knew nothing about and had to look to those that had lived here for generations to teach them what to eat and how to catch it.
On May 18 Janet Oakley will be talking about pioneer food traditions. Details: lyndenpioneermuseum.com

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