First Nations health centre, chef, create hospital menus to heal body and spirit at Manitoulin Health Centre

A program to nourish the hearts and souls as well as the bodies of patients at the Mindemoya and Little Current sites of the Manitoulin Health Centre is finding success.

The Noojmowin Teg Health Centre provides services to seven First Nations on Manitoulin Island and Anishinabek people in the surrounding district.

Executive director Debbie Francis said the health centre has developed a program to incorporate local, traditional foods into hospital meals a couple of times a week, in line with the Indigenous philosophy that good food is good medicine.

That means a healthy combination of wild game, fish, corn, berries and other seasonal produce form the basis of the meals.

The trays are not just for the First Nations patients but are offered to non-Indigenous patients as well, which Francis said is a way to spread cultural understanding and knowledge.

"We're introducing some of these foods to individuals who have never had wild rice or they've never had moose meat or, you know, a moose stir fry," she said. "So that is where you know, we're able to not only offer the food, but also share about the food too."

Frances says the menus also address the higher prevalence of diabetes among Indigenous people.

"It's healthier for you, wild rice versus having white rice, for example," she said. "Fish is such a natural food item. It's local food, It's lean. Just having the offerings of those foods in itself helps for better outcomes."

Every effort is made to make the meals tasty and appealing as well, with chef Hiawatha Osawamick coming up with the recipes.

Osawamick is a member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and operates a restaurant and catering business in Wahnapitae First Nation.

She said she's inspired by the natural, unprocessed food of the land and incorporates them into her recipes on a seasonal basis.

"So there's rabbit stew, bison chili, elk stew, lamb Stew," she said. "So I just incorporate those wild games into a stew. And then I have to keep in mind that my menus have to be tender, where you have these elders that are having a hard time chewing food, so the foods have to be very tender, very saucy, very soft."

While the food is healthy and appetizing, it's also meant to connect people to their families and their culture.

"Just having these foods, the smells, it brings back memories from their childhood," said Osawamick. "So it gives them a sense of spirituality, traditional cultural knowledge and just, you know, bringing back those core principles of when they were a kid which will help support their healing and well-being."

She said that the hospital reports clean plates being returned to the kitchen.

As for Francis, she's dreaming of the day when the program is able to expand and have a new stainless steel kitchen and more hands on deck preparing the food.