My work with the National Park Service has been researching best practices for incorporating foodways into conservation and recreation. Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) is a subgroup of the National Park Service that provides technical assistance to community groups working on projects related to Rivers, Trails, and Conservation. While my time here as an intern has been short (just for the summer!) It has been packed full of work, learning, and even a few site visits. 

Well, you might be thinking, Claudia… What is a foodway? This is a good question. Do you have a family or cultural tradition where you eat a certain food on a holiday or maybe a favorite breakfast food like eggs on toast or gallo pinto? These all have to do with foodways. Foodways are the social and cultural, beliefs and practices around food production, consumption, etc. as well as how knowledge about food is passed down through generations.

I focused mostly on how Indigenous and Immigrant foodways fit into the United States today. A large portion of conserved land is on traditional Indigenous land. Laws regarding what is permitted on conservation land restricts indigenous communities from being able to participate in their traditional foodways. This includes foraging for food and medicinal plants, participating in traditional ceremonies related to food, hunting and so much more. As a result, traditional practices surrounding food are lost throughout the generations. In addition, people who immigrate to the United States often lose some aspect of their foodway whether it’s going to the market and talking with the vendors or foraging for food that is essential to their diet. With many immigrants and people of color living in historically redlined areas, we also run into the issue of food access and food deserts.

I worked to answer the question: How can we use the land we have to support communities having access to culturally significant foods? and how does that fit into conservation and recreation? Everyone should have access to food, and everyone should have access to food that is culturally meaningful to them. The research I did provides meaningful information regarding the topic and encourages the RTCA staff to think critically about the issue as it is not a linear concept and can be applied in drastically different ways depending on the project. Overall I found that foodways are already incorporated into recreation and conversation whether intended to or not (see picture of fox grapes on a conservation trail!). I made suggestions on how to be more intentional with the work around foodways and how to engage different communities.