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| It's an honour to have been invited into people's homes |
Wherever we go, the part we enjoy the most is always meeting the local people, learning from them about their cultures, trying new food and breaking bread with them.
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| S. relaxing in our host's home |
On our trip to a northern reserve, we were not disappointed at all! The hospitality and warmth of the people overwhelmed us. Our group and the local people we met hit of off and there was so much camaraderie between us. We felt we as if we were for long time.
There was no greater honour of being invited into people's home and enjoying home cooked meals by our hosts. We were fortunate enough to have been invited four times during our less than two weeks stay.
Not only did Wa. invite us to her sister's house for dinner, she knew that we wanted to learn how to make bannocks. She invited us for a typical native meal and demonstrated for us how to make the traditional Cree bread - the Bannock.
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| Ingredients for making the bannocks are simple |
The ingredients for this traditional aboriginal quick biscuits recipe was simple. Wa. showed us she only needed four ingredients:
Flour, egg, milk and baking powder, a tiny bit of water if needed.
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| Wa. showed us how to make bannocks |
She put all the ingredients in the bowl, mixed them all well into a dough like consistency. Then she took the dough out of the bowl and knead it a few times to flatten the dough.
We were told that when people were making bannock, they had to be in a good mood as the maker's emotions and feelings would be passed from him/ her to the dough!
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| Cutting the bannocks into serving size pieces |
Using her hands, Ma. flattened the dough to a desired thickness, She cut them into squares. Bannocks could be baked or deep fried. Ma. chose to deep fry them quickly in the deep fryer.
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| Freshly fried bannocks |
After the bannocks are deep fried or baked, they could be cut opened and used as a bun.
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| A fresh delicious bannock burger! |
A bannock burger is a burger filled with a piece of a meat patty and all the trimmings.
Bannocks are very versatile food; the native people make many different food out of the bannocks. Two other food we tasted were the Bannock hot dog and Indian Tacos.
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| Bannock dogs! |
To make Bannock dogs, or Bannock sausage, we placed a piece of hot dog or sausage in the bannock square, rolled it up and deep fried for a few minutes in the fryer. They came out nice and fresh, yummmy!
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| Ground meat for Indian Tacos |
To make Indian Tacos, Ma. cooked up some ground meat in a pot. She cut up fresh shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, grated cheese, sliced onions and put each ingredients separately in a bowl on the dining table.
We picked up a bannock and loaded it up with all the fresh ingredients and topped it with sour cream or salsa sauce. It was delicious!!!
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| Moose meat dinner |
Off course we tried moose meat!
We were served moose meat prepared in two ways: moose stew and fried moose meat.
Both tasted good!
The traditional way of life for the indigenous people in Canada was hunting and gathering. Though most of them move away from their nomadic way of life, some still practice the self sufficient traditional living.
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| Rom. lives the traditional way of Cree life |
We met Rom. who lived in a cabin in the wood without the modern conveniences.
He has no water, no electricity and he hunts and fishes for his food. He shared the whitefish which he caught himself and smoked for three days and nights in his own smoke house. The fish was crisp and crunch as if it had been deep fried!
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| Our gracious and generous host - Ma. |
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| We were overwhelmed by the warmth of the residents in this reserve community |
The people we met and befriended have touched our hearts and souls! They are the most friendly and welcoming people we have ever met in our lives!
R.T.
A Northern Reserve
Alberta
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