Podcast: Lareina Abbott and a Return to Métis Culture, Bannock, Pie and Fiddles, and (once again) the Comfort of Soup
In this fabulous episode, Barb shares the Food Stories kitchen table with Métis speculative fiction writer, Lareina Abbott. Lareina pens Métis themed spec fiction, essays and memoir. A year ago, she received a Calgary Arts Development Grant to write a memoir about reconnecting with her Métis family and the story of her aunt who is a Métis elder. She received the 2023 Howard O’Hagan Short Story award for her short story “Ma Soeur Marie” published in the Prairie Witch Anthology, and was a member of the 2023 Audible Indigenous Writers Circle. She originates from a cattle ranch in northern British Columbia but currently lives and writes in Calgary on Métis Local 87 and Treaty 7 territory. You can find Lariena and her incredible work at @boneblackstories.
Clockwise from top left: “My aunt, a Metis elder in Golden, always has a pie ready when we visit. My aunt wearing a Capote at a blanket ceremony. My Métis grannie in her kitchen in Kimberley BC where she fed family and boarders.”
My food story is really a story of how I found my way back to my Métis culture.
Lareina Abbott, Metis speculative fiction writer
Orange Blossom Special | Johnny Cash
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Whiskey Before Breakfast | Big John McNeil (Alex Kusturok)
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Road to Batoche | John Arcand
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Orange Blossom Special | Johnny Cash 〰️ Whiskey Before Breakfast | Big John McNeil (Alex Kusturok) 〰️ Road to Batoche | John Arcand 〰️
A lovely collection of free Métis fiddle music by Alex Kusturok, Donny L’Hirondelle, and Garry Pruden, shared with us by Lareina.
Bannock (Galette)
From “Traditional Metis Foods and Food Preparation,” Lawrence Barkwell, Audreen Hourie, Anne Acco and Leah Dorion
Lareina has pointed us toward this valuable resource for Métis recipes. To give proper credit, we have the link here and want to acknowledge the wisdom of generations of cooks who have created these recipes over time.
Metis making Bannock, la Galette, on sticks (from “Traditional Metis Foods and Food Preparation”)
Ingredients
3 cups of flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ cup of fat (shortening or butter)
1¼ cups of warm water
Instructions
Mix all dry ingredients together. Make a hole in the middle and add fat. Pour water on top of the fat. Blend mixture together with your hands. Divide the dough into two balls. Flatten each ball into 1cm thickness. Punch holes in both with a fork. Cook in well-greased frying pan for 20 minutes.