Food As Medicine
Overview
Western and Indigenous practices intertwine in efforts to utilize food as medicine to improve food sovereignty, source local food products, and improve health outcomes. The Two-Eyed Seeing approach, articulated by Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall, offers an illustrative model for leveraging both knowledge paradigms for the greater good. Our project links the Two-Eyed Seeing approach to understand aspects of food systems, holistic health promotion, and overall resilience to realize cultural practice, personal and community health, and opportunities for new food markets. Through this series of panel discussions on food and insurance access, cultural practices, business approaches, and food systems connections, we will talk with farmers and food system stakeholders across Indigenous and western settler perspectives to learn more about this intersection and the important work going on in these spaces.
Cultural Practices
In this conversation, we discuss how traditional practices and mental health are intertwined with food as medicine across communities.
Contact information for participants on this panel:
Judy Walden
Georg Washington University
judywalden1@gmail.com
Kelly Dundon
Chenal Family Therapy/Self-employed
kdundon711@gmail.com
Food Systems Connections
In this conversation, we discuss how food systems stakeholders involved in all sectors - from cultivation and harvesting to conservation and stewardship – are contributing to both Indigenous and western food as medicine initiatives.
Contact information for participants on this panel:
Courtney Long
ISU Extension & AgMRC
court7@iastate.edu
Spring Alaska Schreiner
Sakari Farms
sakarifarms@gmail.com
Erin Meyer
Basils Harvest
e.meyer@basilsharvest.org
Sommer Sibilly-Brown
Good Food VI
sommer@goodfoodvi.org
Food and Insurance Access
In this conversation, we discuss how access to nutritious food intersects with healthcare coverage and its impact on lived experiences and holistic health outcomes.
Contact information for participants on this panel:
Valerie Segrest
Tahoma Peak Solutions
valerie@tahomapeak.com
Jenn Reynolds
Nourish
jreynolds@nourishleadership.ca
Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt, RDN LDN
Iowa State University
lbschutt@iastate.edu
Business Approaches to Food As Medicine
In this conversation, we discuss how agritourism, farming practices, and community food hubs integrate cultural traditions and consumer preferences in food as medicine.
Link from chat: Food as Medicine and Agritourism
Contact information for participants on this panel:
Trevor Lane
Washington State University
trevor.lane@wsu.edu
Brandon & Lauren Breaux
Cockeyed Farms
cockeyedfarms@gmail.com
Debbie Thorgren Turner
Lost River Market & Deli
debbiethorgrenturner@gmail.com
Below you will find an annotated bibliography reviewing the intersectionality of western settler medicine, Indigenous practices, and local and regional food systems. Food as medicine is an intersectional area of focus that recognizes and addresses the significant personal and community impacts of cultivation and harvesting of food, food access, culture, diet, nutrition, well-being, and health outcomes. This annotated bibliography was created to assess and understand the unique contributions of research within the food as medicine spectrum more fully.
