Giving Compass' Take:

• Kathleen Merrigan, Executive Director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems, talks about learning from indigenous wisdom in the food system.

• How can funders help support indigenous voices, culture, and food system? 

• Learn how to invest in Native American food systems. 

On “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” Kathleen Merrigan, inaugural Executive Director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University (ASU), talks about learning from the wisdom of Indigenous foodways. “I’m looking forward, but at the same time, I’m looking back. I realize that there’s this wisdom in Indigenous food systems that we’ve just not given prime time,” says Merrigan.

“Conversations about Indigenous food systems frequently feature rampant poverty, obesity, Indian reservations, and lack of food access. While that is all true, those conversations overshadow the real incredible success stories,” says Merrigan. In partnership with the Swette Center, Food Tank will host the summit “The Wisdom of Indigenous Foodways” to confront a past that has excluded indigenous agricultural practices, ingredients, and voices from the food system. And the Summit will highlight a hopeful future featuring activists, entrepreneurs, and innovators from native communities. “This summit is really about elevating that story and figuring out what we can all learn from them,” says Merrigan. A livestream of the summit will be available at Foodtank.com.

Merrigan notes that being at ASU offers a unique opportunity to engage in the topic of indigenous foodways, as she has learned since arriving earlier this year. “Over 27 percent of land in Arizona is tribal land, and this county—Maricopa county— has the largest number by percentage of Native Americans of any county in the country,” says Merrigan. “So, as I seek to learn about my new homestead, I also want to learn a lot about my neighbors.”

Read the full article about indigenous food ways by Katherine Walla at Food Tank.