Chef David Wolfman explores Indigenous cuisine in new cookbook

Chef David Wolfman has many inspirationsbut says one of hisbiggest is the "country food" created by Indigenous peoples across Canada.

Wolfman, who isa member of the Xaxli'p First Nation in British Columbia, isputting hisknowledge and heritageto good use in anewcookbook titled"Cooking With The Wolfman: Indigenous Fusion", which he co-wrote with his wife Marlene Finn, a member of the Metis community.

He is a classically trained Chef andCulinary Arts Professor at George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto.

For nearly 20 yearshe was the host of and executive producer ofCooking with theWolfman, atelevision program featuringWolfman'sIndigenous fusion recipes.

Wolfmantold Daybreak Alberta hostRussell Bowers about connecting to his Indigenous roots through food.

The following is an excerpt fromthat interview:

Q: Tell me about the inspiration putting this cook book together?

A:At a very young age my mom allowed me into the kitchen, sheallowed me to make some mistakes, allowed me to eat a lot of good food that she was making.

And then as Iwas growing up in an urban environment, Ieventually became a chef, did some training at GeorgeBrown in Toronto and then decided to go home, so to speak, and learn "our foods."

Q: What did you learn about "your foods"that you didn't know before you started taking in that greater interest?

A: The first question Iasked, which is a question Iget from everybody, is "what kinds of spices and herbs?"

And Iremember talking to a couple of the elders and they said "well, a lot of the herbs and spices were used for medicines," so that was the first thing Ilearned.

And then they had this huge respect for the food that they ate, which Ihad never seen before growing up in the city, you know?

Q:Your indigenous rootsweren'tat the forefront of your childhood, were they?

A:No, theyweren't.

It was a lot of questions and a lot of times my mom would be sitting there, talking about "I really miss back home,'" and she'd be telling stories to us about the way that they would smoke the salmon so that was something that was interesting to hear.

Q: How did researching this book changehow you were cooking up to that point?

A: It opened up my eyes to see there [are]a number of other ways of harvesting food, even picking the wild rice.

The way[Indigenous peoples]pick the wild rice in the prairies is they would pick it into their canoes and then put seeds back into the marsh so they would grow next year, and then they would leave seeds for the birds.

It almost seemed there was a part that was missing and now I've found it.

Q: If someone sat at your table and you could cook them one meal to introduce them to food in the book, which would you pick?

A: That's like saying "which one of these children is your favourite?"

One of my favourites is the hot smoked salmon that Imade, and we had to make it about four of five times unfortunately so Ihad to eat it all.

It's not that complex, probably the most complicated part is having a smoker.

Q: You have dishes in the book from across the country, what about Albertanrecipes?

A:We have a wonderful pemican recipe and Marlene's mom ... that was one of the recipes that was her favourite because she had pemican when she grew up. She's 91 now.

We have a few buffalo recipes in there as well as things like, for example, some rabbit recipes as well.

Q: What's the one cooking tip you would share from this book?

A: Probably the best tip is to actually enjoy the process of it, because when I enjoy what I'm cooking it comes out in the food.

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With files from Daybreak Alberta