Cafe brings Indigenous plant-medicine traditions to Fort Langley

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Chef Sarah Meconse Mierau is on a mission to build up the Indigenous food offerings in the Lower Mainland.

“I want to reignite Indigenous culture and traditions around food and plant medicines,” the Mission-based chef and entrepreneur says. “So, I try to incorporate plant medicines into each of my dishes.”

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Mierau, who has an advanced diploma in culinary arts and restaurant ownership from the Art Institute of Vancouver, honed her culinary skills working in professional kitchens in and around Vancouver.

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She recalls her time in the high-stress pro kitchens leaving her feeling drained and destroyed.

“I was off for about two years,” Mierau recalls. “And then I just knew I had to get my passion back.”

Reconnecting with her Indigenous culture through the process — Mierau is a member of the Sayisi Dene First Nation — she did a deep-dive into Indigenous cuisine and traditional plant medicine. 

“For me, I didn’t just want to cook. I wanted to cook and help people,” Mierau says. “The way that I can do that is to help other people reconnect with their culture.”

A passionate supporter of the power of connecting Indigenous people to their culture through food, Mierau is building her business with the goal of bringing Indigenous cuisine to the mainstream.

“I honestly didn’t start connecting with my culture until I was 35. I’m 41 now,” says Mierau, whose mother was a victim of the 60s Scoop and died from addiction when Mierau was only 12 years old. “There’s not a lot of representation. People have no idea. And a lot of us had no idea because we were forcibly disconnected from our communities.

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“I’m literally learning as I go. I feel like I’m being guided by my ancestors. A lot of the flavours just come to me — I’ll wake up and be like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ And then it just works out the first time.”

Mierau launched her lineup of jams two years ago after completing a business course at Native Education College. Featuring traditional plants and locally sourced berries from the Hazelmere Organic Farm, the selection includes: Blueberry Lavender; Smokey Juniper Cherry; Raspberry Dandelion; Blackberry Sage; and Chamomile Pear.

The five plant-medicine jams feature locally sourced, organic ingredients, are sweetened with maple syrup instead of sugar, and thickened with chia seeds instead of commercial pectins.

With the recipes for her naturally sweetened spreads complete, Mierau took them out into her community to get their feedback.

“I actually went around to powwows,” Mierau says. “I wanted to see how the community reacted to it. And they loved it.”

Sold for $18 each, Mierau and her small team, which includes her three children, make the jams by hand in batches of 50. The jams are available for purchase at her cafe and online at Tradishcanada.ca.

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With her jam business rolling, Mierau decided to tackle another longtime goal: a food truck. Incorporating the line of jams on the truck, with fresh-made bannock, the chef created plant-medicine lemonades using her own simple syrups in order to satisfy the thirst for beverages by her food-truck customers.

It wasn’t long after the launch of The Tradish Food Truck that Mierau also expanded the culinary offering, launching a trio of taco flavours that employ bannock and traditional Indigenous ingredients. Serving cultural events and offering catering, Tradish offers a Bison Bannock Taco ($20); Elk Bannock Taco ($25); and a vegan-friendly Three Sisters Bannock Taco ($17); Bison Tortilla Soup ($20); and Bannock with Eggs and Wild Boar Sausage ($20) to satisfy savoury cravings.

And now, Mierau’s ever-expanding culinary offering is available in Fort Langley through The Ancestor Cafe.

“We named it The Ancestor Cafe because this is a fort where the Indigenous and non-Indigenous ancestors would meet up to trade,” she explains.

Located within the Fort Langley National Historic Site at 23433 Mavis Ave. — Mierau says a reduced entry fee for cafe visitors is in the works (free entry to the fort is offered to all Indigenous people) — The Ancestor Cafe is situated in the space that was once home to the Lelum Arts and Culture Cafe.

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“I actually met one of the women who was a part of that, through my vending,” Mierau says. “And she told me that I should come and talk to them, so I did.”

While interested in expanding to a cafe space, Mierau says the location of the eatery did give her pause.

“It took me a year to accept this place, before I moved in. I didn’t want to be the ‘token Indian.’ I didn’t agree with colonization and the things that happened in places like this,” Mierau says of the space at the fort, which was a hub of trade for settlers in the 1800s. “But, the more that I thought about it, and the more that I spoke to other Indigenous people about it, it’s time for us to take up spaces in these colonized spaces. So that we can be here to show the beauty and tell the truth. For ourselves, out of our own mouths.

“Really, it’s a way of us taking up some physical space. And, in a way, taking some land back.”

The cafe recently added plant-medicine lattes and cappuccinos that incorporate the homemade Tradish syrups using coffee beans from Spirit Bear Coffee Company, along with teas to its menu. Further plans to expand the food offering are also in the works.

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“I want to make physical items that are accessible to urban Indigenous who don’t grow up around their communities,” Mierau explains. “I grew up like that, and I never had anything that was like, ‘Hey, that’s meant for me.’ ”

An important aspect of the cafe, beyond the food, is the inclusion of art and goods in a “fair-trade gallery” from local Indigenous artists and brands including Cree artist James Groening, known as Blue Sky, Anishinaabe artist Mike Alexander, ribbon skirts by Misty Moon Creations, Shining Bear Designs, and Sweetgrass Soap.

“The thing about the Indigenous community, is we really do lift each other up,” Mierau says of the support, calling out a few mentors of her own, including Inez Cook of Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro, Indigenous Tourism B.C., Caroline Phelps from Canoe Cultures, and Brenda Knights of the B.C. Indigenous Housing Society.

Despite being a busy business owner and mom, Mierau urges Indigenous people who are interested in following her footsteps to connect with her directly for advice and mentorship.

“I would love to help them out and pay it forward,” she says. “Like people have done for me.”

Aharris@postmedia.com

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