Wisconsin Fiddlehead Fern

Valerie Kaneshiro, a mixture of Japanese and Native American, was raised on the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe reservation in Wisconsin, her mom’s ancestral home. Forced to leave her home at 15, disconnected from her Indian roots she so loved, Valerie tells a story of loss and rediscovery and all the lessons learned while sharing an ingredient to a cultural dish found in Wisconsin and Hawaii.

Sustainable agriculture is making a comeback at the Lac Courtes Oreilles Community College in Wisconsin. Hawai‘i chef Ed Kenney visits the college and learns about their successful efforts in rehabilitating the soil to grow organic, tapping into their heirloom Native American seed bank.

Utilizing indigenous ingredients and food traditions to create a brilliant contemporary cuisine is at the heart of an emerging indigenous food movement among young Native American chefs. Tashia Hart, culinary ethnobotanist, shows Chef Ed Kenney how to take indigenous ingredients to create a contemporary dish.

Different varieties of fiddlehead fern are used in traditional Ojibwe and Hawaiian dishes. Chef Ed Kenney takes a tour of a family farm on Kaua‘i to learn about the Hawaiian variety, pohole, and how to harvest it.