Baker Lake became engaged in Food First NL’s Our Food NL project as a result of efforts to share knowledge with other jurisdictions, and via a partnership with the Nunavut Food Security Coalition.
As a remote Inuit community in a different part of Canada's North, Baker Lake saw value in applying the Community-Led Food Assessment (CLFA) process to engage their own community around local food security issues. With the benefit of some culturally relevant experience and tools from Nunatsiavut, partners in Nunavut began their planning process early in 2015.
The result of the CLFA was development of the Niqitsiavut (meaning "Our Good Food" in Inuktitut) Community Kitchen. The program provides hands-on practice and skills in traditional methods of preparing local, wild foods. Workshops have been held on techniques such as butchering muskox and caribou, grinding meat, and making nipku (dried caribou).
The Coordinators recruit community members with traditional cooking skills to assist with the food preparation workshops, and local hunters assisted with leading a field trip where high school students learned how to hunt and skin caribou.
“The Niqitsiavut food security program activities have been very well received. People are very interested in learning to prepare and preserve traditional country foods. It's important to advertise as much as possible and continue to get the community's input on the programs they want to see.”
- Susan Toolooktook, Niqitsiavut Coordinator
The Niqitsiavut Community Kitchen also provides skills development sessions focused on contemporary, store-bought foods, including nutrition information and budgeting tips, as well as healthy cooking skills and recipes. All these activities increase access to nutritious food through community sharing, both during and following the workshops.
The program has also participated in community health fairs, partnering with other organizations to cook up huge pots of muskox chili or fish chowder made from local lake trout. The food is shared with the community, along with recipes and nutrition information. Following most events, the Coordinators share photos on Facebook, continuing to increase awareness, interest, and participation in the program. Not surprisingly, Niqitsiavut events are usually full.
Finding adequate and consistent space to deliver programs has been an ongoing challenge in the small and remote community, where infrastructure is limited and space is at a premium. Currently, the program has secured a very good location that provides a kitchen area, work tables, and room for storage. Committee and staff are hopeful it remains available to them for a long time to come.
With suitable space, a dedicated Committee, and well-respected and skilled staff in place, the team looks forward to being able to do more proactive and long-term planning, as well as, find new and effective ways to engage the community.
To read more about the Niqitsiavut Community Kitchen in Baker Lake and other community programs resulting from Community-Led Food Assessments, check out Food First NL’s report Our Food NL: Stories, Successes and Lessons from 2010-18
