With diabetes and obesity reaching epidemic proportions, an Anishinaabe chef in northwestern Wisconsin is trying to get people to eat healthier, homegrown food. Earlier this summer, on a very hot day at the Lac Courte Oreilles Honor the Earth pow wow, Austin Bartold was serving a delicious watermelon salad.  Nick Vander Puy from the Superior Broadcast Network enjoyed his salad spoke to the chef. click here for live stream broadcast

 

 

It was the busiest food stand at this year’s popular Honor the Earth Pow Wow.  Austin Bartold, dressed in his white chef’s apron, was serving watermelon salad.

 

“And what it is, is cut up watermelon, cut up jicama which is Mexican potato, fresh cilantro, and a homemade citrus vinaigrette, made out of parsley, vinegar, shallots, and garlic, all blended together, and emulsified, per order I cut and mix it, and season it with salt and pepper.”

 

Throughout the whole very hot day many dancers made their way to his stand.

 

“they said, they’re glad to see something like this, after they eat fry food, something like fry bread, it’s very hard, it settles in their stomach, and it makes them uncomfortable when they’re dancing.  So when they eat this salad and some of the soups I had they’re very impressed, it energized them and they came back for more.  It made me very happy to see that.”

 

After Bartold graduated from the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa community college, he worked at Famous Dave’s rib house near Hayward for awhile, then Bartold trained at the Cordon Bleu chef school in Minneapolis.  Watching him chop cilantro you can see he gets pleasure from his work.

 

“You know it makes me happy when you see the expression on people’s face when they eat the food.  This past few days people were looking at food they didn’t know what it was until they tried it and they said it was great, and they ordered a plate or a bowl of whatever I had, and it makes me feel good inside that I can make people happy by just cooking something good for them.”

 

Bartold thinks people don’t take enough time to enjoy their food.  Almost everybody is in a rush.

 

“I think people should actually sit down and enjoy what they’re having instead of being in a rush, and just shoving something down their throat and not thinking about what they’re eating, actually tasting all the ingredients in it and enjoying it, and I think people should look at a more healthier diet, and that’s a big thing for native Americans obesity, and that’s one thing I want to try and improve for diabetics, for the elders, and get some of those good taste buds out there.”

 

When Bartold isn’t working the pow wow circuit he prepares food like wild rice, deer meat, and berries for elders in Minneapolis, who are suffering from diabetes.

 

“I just want to see people eat healthier.  I want to bring back you know the good eating, the healthy foods, cooking from a garden, that’s what I want to bring back.”

 

For Honor The Earth Pow Wow at Lac Courte Oreilles July 19-22, 2007, Austin writes:

 

     

Web Design and photos by Sandy Lyon

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