Giving Thanks without Erasure

Swapping Thanksgiving recipes & resources

Good morning and happy #GratiTuesday bread friends. This morning, I’m feeling very grateful to live in a time where so much knowledge is so readily accessible via the internet.

This morning I sat down to write you a short newsletter asking you about your Thanksgiving recipes. I’m genuinely interested to hear from you all what some of your favorite dishes are that you make or your family shares for Thanksgiving. Two that stand out for us are the turkey and the buns. I’ve come to really enjoy making our turkey with a salt & rosemary rub. And the biggest hit at the table each year are the Swedish dinner rolls (bullar buns) that Melissa makes from a recipe passed down from several generations.

Of course, Thanksgiving is a national holiday steeped in complications. To the extent that Thanksgiving provides a structured way for Americans to slow down and break bread while practicing gratitude with our families – it is a welcome change of pace from daily life. But for those of us concerned with not only bread but also justice - we need to contend with the reality that Thanksgiving is not a celebratory holiday for everyone. For many Native Americans, this day is a National Day of Mourning.

As humans, and especially as parents, Melissa and I believe it is important to not perpetuate America’s tradition of Thanksgiving being a holiday that erases Indigenous people from the conversation. It is good to acknowledge that turkey, pumpkins, cranberries, corn, beans, and many of the foods that we eat on this day have indigenous roots. It is also important, to be honest with our kids about the harm that colonizers did to Indigenous people and their land. I believe that it is essential as Americans to be able to maintain gratitude for the blessings that we have in this country while also mourning and actively learning from the attrocities against humanity that were repeatedly committed in pursuit of the nation that we have today.

Reading Materials

So, whether you’re looking for resources to deepen your own knowledge and support of Indigenous people and culture, or resources to help you to teach your kids… we’ve put together a bit of a list for readers. I figured sharing these more than a week out gives us all time to dive in and incorporate some new learnings into this year’s experience of Thanksgiving.

Native Recipes From Indigenous Chefs

Check out this map to learn what native territory you live on, and then learn more about the people and culture who’s land it was and is.

Spotify playlist of songs made by Indigenous artists

Now on Netflix and several other streaming services - Gather is a great film about the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide.

The City of Madison’s Native American Storyteller-in-Residence program will be hosting a virtual discussion that will cover a variety of harvest topics such as Indian corn, squash, milkweed, the health of black ash trees in Wisconsin, and some of the endeavors that the Ho-Chunk have engaged in over the years as a tribe toward food sovereignty. If you’re in Madison, you can also join an in-person Harvest Walk on Saturday, November 20 that will take place at Edna Taylor Conservation Park beginning at 10 a.m. Storytime included, so it's great for all ages!

IllumiNative On-Air podcast uplifts stories and news from across Indian Country to support and illuminate contemporary Native voices, stories, and issues. The podcast was created to increase the visibility of Native people and ensure accurate and authentic portrayals of Native communities are present in pop culture and media.

Read news for and by Native Americans

Three of our favorite kids books this time of year are Jingle Dancer, Awasis and the world-famous bannock, and Wild berries (Julie Flett). And as I looked for more- I came across this video of We Are Water Protectors read aloud by the the author.

Finally… as you may know, this month we’re donating 100% of our profits to Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance.

So you can follow this link to pre-order bread right now for Thursday pickup.

Cheers,
Mo

P.S. As an FYI, we will be selling bread next week also. We will offer bread for pickup on Thursday/Thanksgiving - and our pickup window will be early that morning for anyone who will want to use sourdough in their stuffings, or serve it on their table… or just have it for the weekend. 🤗