The farewell season of Moosemeat & Marmalade airs on APTN. Photo Credit: Dean Azim
APTN’s much-loved food docuseries “Moosemeat & Marmalade” has come to an end after seven seasons. Since its debut in 2015, the Leo award-winning show produced more than 90 episodes, exploring communities from across Canada and abroad.
In its farewell season, Indigenous bush cook Art Napoleon and chef Dan Hayes visit several First Nations communities, including McLeod Lake and Nuuchanulth Territory in British Columbia, and the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario. Each of the 13 episodes entertains and educates audiences by covering a variety of topics, including Indigenous cooking traditions, ethical food practices and food sovereignty.
These topics are important to Napoleon, who was raised on reserve during a time when eating off the land was common among Indigenous families. He recalls his early years, explaining that his grandfather and uncles hunted while the younger children and his grandmother picked berries. Even in the winter, the root cellar always had berries and vegetables from the garden.
Napoleon was so isolated that he didn’t even know what Dairy Queen was. If he wanted something “fancy,” he had to make it himself. He laughs, recalling his first attempt at making pizza after seeing it in a black-and-white television commercial. He cooked noodles and placed them on top of the pizza, only to later discover that the toppings were actually shredded mozzarella cheese.
He enjoyed setting the tables properly before meals and creating a restaurant-like ambiance, with his family encouraging him. Later, he cooked at camps. “When I say I’m a bush cook, I literally am,” says Napolean. “I grew up cooking on fires.”
Napoleon explains that colonization has significantly disrupted Indigenous food systems by taking away our lands and resources and confining us to reserves. This loss of control over lands is connected to food sovereignty.
“We had food systems in place,” says Napoleon. “We had stewardship practises in place. We even did habitat enhancement.” Many terms used today, such as agroforestry and permaculture, were practices that Indigenous peoples were already implementing.
Napoleon believes that if we want to eat traditionally and enjoy salmon and buffalo again, we need to become stewards of our lands once more. “That means reinvigorating our food systems to ensure that future generations will also have access to these traditional foods.”
Now that the show is ended, Napoleon sees many opportunities ahead. He does a lot of writing and is interested in writing a book about food from the land. “It’s more about food sovereignty and connection to the land through food – not so much a cookbook.”
Looking back, Napoleon views his past opportunities as a chance to mature and grow. “A lot of us have grown up with PTSD and all these other ailments,” he explains. “That hits at certain stages in life, and you got to face it and deal with it. You’ve got to pick up whatever tools you can to be able to get through and face those demons. That’s an ongoing thing for me. It’ll probably never stop. I’ll always be working on that and always be growing.”
Moosemeat & Marmalade is produced by Mooswa Films, a collaboration between May Street Productions Limited and Art Napoleon. The final season premieres on APTN in English every Tuesday at 8 PM EST. Episodes can also be streamed online on APTN Lumi, and past seasons are available for U.S. viewers on FNX.
