Many nations, many food traditions
“Indigenous food” is not one cuisine. Canada is home to many distinct First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, each with its own languages, territories and food practices. What people ate and still eat depends heavily on where they live: a fishing community on the Pacific coast and a hunting community in the Arctic have very different pantries.
This guide is an overview. It cannot speak for any one nation, and the best way to learn about a specific community’s foods is from that community itself, through Indigenous-authored cookbooks, cultural centres and Indigenous-owned restaurants and caterers.
What “Indigenous foods” means
The term is usually used in two overlapping ways:
- Traditional foods: foods harvested, hunted, fished or grown from the land and waters, used in Indigenous cultures before and alongside contact with Europeans. These include game, fish, berries, wild plants, maple sap and crops such as corn, beans and squash.
- Contemporary Indigenous cooking: dishes cooks make today, often combining traditional ingredients with introduced ones such as wheat flour, as in bannock.
Useful terms: First Nations refers to Indigenous peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. Inuit are the Indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Métis are a distinct people with a shared history that arose from relationships between Indigenous and European people. “Indigenous” is the broader umbrella.
Foods Indigenous to North America
A common question is which foods come from North America originally. Foods widely associated with the continent’s Indigenous peoples include:
- Corn (maize), beans and squash, often called the “Three Sisters.” Many agricultural nations planted them together, with the corn stalks supporting the beans and the squash spreading along the ground.
- Wild rice, harvested in parts of the Great Lakes region.
- Maple sap and syrup, first made by Indigenous peoples in the northeast.
- Berries, including blueberries, cranberries and Saskatoon berries.
- Fish and game, such as salmon, bison, deer, moose and caribou, depending on region.
- Sunflower seeds, pumpkins and other native plants, used in various traditions.
Many everyday foods around the world, such as potatoes, tomatoes and chili peppers, also come from the Americas, though they were domesticated further south; see popular Bolivian foods for the Andean potato tradition.
Foods by region
Broad regional patterns help, though they are simplifications.
Eastern Woodlands and Great Lakes
Agricultural nations in the southeast of what is now Canada grew corn, beans and squash, and also gathered wild rice and tapped maple trees. Fish, deer and other game were important too. Lobster and other seafood were significant for the Mi’kmaq on the Atlantic coast, a connection you can see in the food of Nova Scotia.
Prairies and Plains
Bison was a central resource for many Plains peoples, used for fresh meat and for preserved foods such as pemmican, a mix of dried meat, fat and sometimes berries. Prairie berries, including Saskatoons, were gathered and eaten fresh, dried or in preserves.
Pacific coast
Salmon is deeply important to many coastal nations, along with other fish, shellfish, seaweed, roots and berries. Cooking salmon on a cedar plank over fire is a well-known method associated with the region. Cold-water salmonids are prized elsewhere too, as in our Icelandic Arctic char recipes.
The North
In the Arctic and subarctic, diets have traditionally centred on animals and fish, including caribou, fish and marine mammals, supplemented by berries and other plants gathered in the short growing season. Arctic cranberries (sometimes called lingonberries) are a valued wild fruit in some northern communities.
Bannock and frybread
Bannock is probably the best-known Indigenous-associated bread in Canada. Many sources describe it as a quick bread made from flour, fat and a leavening agent, and it can be baked, pan-fried, deep-fried or cooked over a fire. Different nations have their own names and versions.
It is worth knowing the history. Some accounts suggest the word and the basic bread were introduced by Scottish fur traders, and that wheat flour became a staple largely because of government rations when Indigenous peoples were moved onto reserves. Because of that history, bannock is often described as a food of adaptation as well as comfort. Frybread, a related fried dough, appears across North America and is used as the base for dishes like frybread tacos.
Scotland has its own oatmeal bannocks, echoed in the griddle bread in our Imbolc bread recipes. Modern cooks serve bannock with stews, with jam, or as a base for savoury toppings. Adding berries is a popular variation.
What is an Indigenous meal?
There is no single answer, but a meal might combine:
- A protein from the land or water: bison stew, venison, or salmon.
- A starch or grain: wild rice, corn, squash or bannock.
- Berries or other wild fruit, served fresh, in a sauce or baked.
- A drink such as a herbal tea made from local plants.
Many cooks today also adapt these ideas into modern dishes, for example butternut squash on bannock pizza or venison with a berry jam.
Does Canada have a national food?
Canada has no official national dish. Poutine, made with fries, cheese curds and gravy, is the one most often called the national dish and has French-Canadian roots in rural Quebec in the late 1950s. Other French-Canadian examples include tourtière (a spiced meat pie), pouding chômeur (a maple-sweetened pudding) and split pea soup. Indigenous contributions are embedded in the wider food culture, most visibly in maple syrup and maple taffy.
Contemporary Indigenous cooking and food sovereignty
Many Indigenous chefs, authors and communities are reviving traditional foods and teaching younger generations. Some communities speak of food sovereignty, meaning the right to define and control their own food systems, including hunting, fishing and growing practices. If you are cooking from this tradition, look for recipes written by Indigenous authors and consider buying from Indigenous-owned businesses.
Cooking respectfully at home
- Credit the nation and the source of a recipe where you can.
- Avoid describing a dish as “the” Indigenous version of anything, since traditions vary.
- Be cautious with wild-foraged ingredients. Do not eat wild plants or mushrooms unless you are certain of what they are.
- Source game and fish from reputable suppliers.
Frequently asked questions
What foods are Indigenous to North America? Corn, beans, squash, wild rice, maple syrup, many berries, and game and fish such as bison and salmon are among the best known.
Is bannock traditional? Bannock is a long-standing staple in many Indigenous communities today, but its flour-based form is closely tied to the history of trade and rationing, so it is often described as an adapted food rather than an ancient one.
Does Canada have a national food? No official one exists. Poutine is the most commonly named.