Gastronomy
Indigenous Street Food
Chef George Lenser
Chef George Lenser is Nisga'a, Wet'suwet'en, Gitxsan and Squamish from northwestern British Columbia. He Is currently in his hometown of Terrace BC. Furthering his knowledge of food, management, Indigenous history & politics to become Restaurateur, Indigenous Rights Activist, Hunter, and Leader. “Today, Indigenous peoples are putting in their individual efforts to understanding their own stories of how it came to be that we do not know some of our own traditional recipes and methods of cooking. The kind of knowledge which would typically be passed down through generations and shared amongst our families was disrupted. I am not just curious of who these Indigenous chefs are, I wonder what they are doing as their own creative individuals, free of social ideas of what Indigenous cuisine is ‘supposed’ to be. What are they serving in their restaurants? Where are they sourcing their ingredients? How are they transforming the ingredients? Who is their focused clientele, and for what reasons? Are they just cooking to appease settler ideas of what stoic, barbaric, and spiritual ‘Red Indian’ cuisine is? Or are they cooking to make their family and communities proud? Most importantly, I want to know how are they resetting the tables after colonialism's discourse.”