THE FOOD THAT
MOTHER EARTH
GIVES US IS MEDICINE
Our original understanding and life ways were based on reciprocity among and between Nimíipuu people and the more‑than‑human world - land, water, food and all of creation. We are inseparable from everything around us – all our relations - we are one family, bound by responsibilities as much as by kinship. This is our purpose to live as a real human being.
Nimíipuu People always prayed for what we received from our Mother Earth as we would with our own mother. We called everything - the animals, the four legged, two legged, those that swim, fly, crawl…everything, even the rock - they were all brothers and sisters to us. Indigenous Peoples learned a lot from Mother Earth and all life in that way. We respected Mother Earth and what she provides - her medicines - water, our First Foods, roots, herbs, berries and all our sacred relatives who help to sustain us through the four seasons like the salmon, steelhead, eel, deer, elk, moose, the buffalo…
First Foods are our original sacred foods that have always nourished our people - they are our relatives and our medicine. Our treaties guarantee our rights to harvest, prepare and share our First Foods (salmon and other river fish, roots, berries, greens, seeds and game) across our Nimíipuu Homeland and ancestral territories. Our wellbeing is inexorably tied to theirs and it’s our responsibility to respect and care for them and their habitats for future generations. Protecting our traditional hunting lands, fish runs & foraging grounds protects Nez Perce sovereignty itself and helps us to restore historical foodways, cultural strength, language and ceremony. First foods are essential to our sustenance and health, our treaty rights and who we are as a People.
FIRST FOODS, FOOD SECURITY & SOVEREIGNTY
FOODWAYS PROJECTS & INITIATIVES
