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The inaugural Indigenous Foodways Festival is creating pathways for sharing Indigenous food culture. 

The festival on Saturday, June 20, features chef-led panels, an Indigenous Chefs鈥� Tasting Experience and more.

鈥淥ne of the things that we were really looking at is highlighting chefs,鈥� Danyelle Means, the executive director of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, said. 鈥淐hefs who are working either in their own communities or chefs that are in major metropolitan centers who could come to Santa Fe for a weekend festival that would highlight some of their culinary innovation.鈥�

MIAC paired with Edible New Mexico to bring the event to life. Indigenous chefs from New Mexico and beyond are participating to showcase different tribal foodways.

Means said there are over two dozen tribes represented throughout the festival.

鈥淭o me, being able to share something from your own community with a bunch of people who are not from there that is part of what I want this festival to become. A place to exchange ideas,鈥� Means said.

Ray Naranjo, a member of Santa Clara Pueblo and the executive chef at Manko, will be giving a presentation on corn. He will also participate in the tasting experience.

鈥淭he whole goal is to educate on Indigenous foods,鈥� Naranjo said.

He said the festival is a great opportunity to highlight different ingredients.

鈥淔oodways begin with the farming and the foraging 鈥� before it ends up on the modern plate,鈥� Naranjo said.

He said it was important to create paths for the next generation of Indigenous chefs and he hopes the festival will plant seeds for Indigenous businesses to grow.

Tina Archuleta from Jemez Pueblo is the owner of Itality, an Indigenous vegan restaurant. She said many ingredients are similar across tribes and Indigenous peoples but are used differently. Being able to see how they are used is powerful for communities.

鈥淭here was a lot of Indigenous foodway and Native foodway knowledge lost through colonization, through Americanization, to the boarding school era,鈥� Archuleta said, 鈥渁nd I think now that Indigenous chefs are kind of reclaiming that. Being able to return that back to the community is really special.鈥�

She said a festival like this is long overdue in the state.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of art festivals, culture festivals in New Mexico for Indigenous artists and Indigenous people,鈥� Archuleta said, 鈥渁nd we haven鈥檛 seen one convening for just foodways.鈥�

鈥淚 hope it just continues to grow to be a festival, maybe even the size of Santa Fe Indian Market, or just something really huge, where people can come together from all over,鈥� she said.

Elizabeth Secor is an arts fellow for the sa国际传媒官网网页入口. You can reach her at esecor@abqjournal.com.