Seeds
of Connection
Since
moving back to California’s Bay Area this fall,
I’ve been trying to learn about the Native
peoples, cultures, and histories of this region.
This is how, on a recent Saturday, I found
myself at a public library, talking to Gabriel
Duncan about acorn flour.
Duncan
is a descendant of the Utu Utu Gwaitu Benton
Paiute Tribe who grew up in Alameda, California.
He’s the founder of the Alameda Native History
Project, which has been working to produce
acorn flour to share with the local Muwekma
Ohlone Tribe and other Indigenous communities —
and with non-Indigenous people like me through
workshops.
Like
many Americans, I didn’t learn much about
Indigenous peoples in school, and what I did
learn was often inaccurate or referred to them
in the past tense, as if all Native peoples had
gone extinct. Of course, they’re still here, and
they’re still producing flour from acorns — once
a staple food source for Indigenous peoples in
California and around the world. “[Acorns are]
mostly water, and then fat, starch, and
protein,” Duncan told me. “They’re a superfood
that’s, like, magic.”
At
the workshop, acorns had already been harvested,
sorted, and cracked open. The next step was
grinding. But Duncan wasn’t using a mortar and
pestle like I had seen in the picture books; he
was demonstrating on a metal grain mill mounted
to a table. “If we had technology to grind in a
day instead of a month, we’d use it,” Duncan
said, cranking the mill’s handle. “That’s
survival.”
This
combination of tradition and technology,
Indigenous knowledge and modern food science, is
a hallmark of the ACORNS! Project Arc, Duncan
told me later. The larger goal is to reconnect
people with the land and Indigenous foodways,
from harvesting acorns in local oak groves to
transforming the finished flour into crepes or
cookies.
Duncan
emphasized that eating acorns is not exotic —
it’s something people in this region have been
doing for more than 10,000 years. But
colonization has severed such food practices in
part by turning Indigenous lands into private
property. The Alameda Native History Project
partners with organizations like the John Muir
Land Trust to harvest acorns from private
properties, and is looking for other partners —
including farms and vineyards — with oak
trees.
Now
that I’ve watched acorns get ground and soaked
(to remove harmful tannins), I look forward to
tasting dishes made with acorn flour, and to
helping harvest what’s expected to be a bumper
crop next year.
There’s
so much to learn, and unlearn, and I appreciate
hands-on opportunities like this to connect in a
way that feels reciprocal. Do you have any plans
to incorporate native foods and cultural
traditions into your holiday celebrations? We’d
love to hear about
them. |
