Gyetk: Coastal Fusion and Ancestral Knowledge From a Ts'msyen Kitchen

Gyetk, meaning “to feed the people,” brings the food knowledge of the Ts’msyen people of the Pacific Northwest Coast into a contemporary kitchen. Rachel and Spencer Greening, both Ts’msyen people, draw on their work as harvesters as well as their backgrounds in nutrition and anthropology to document ingredients, techniques, and ways of eating that they want to see practiced and not just simply remembered. 

The 60 recipes follow the seasonal cycles of harvesting and make use of foods including salmon, halibut, clams and cockles, seaweed, nettles, venison, berries, and hazelnuts. Some preparations are strikingly simple, such as salmonberries with seal grease, while others bring traditional ingredients into contemporary dishes, including maple-caramelized beaver tail with baked beans and roasted seal ribs with wild berry barbecue sauce. 

The Greenings pay particular attention to parts of animals that were once prized but are frequently discarded today. Baked salmon heads, venison tendons, moose hearts, and mountain goat tongues introduce flavors and textures that Rachel argues have been devalued as modern food systems have favored familiar fillets and cuts. Instructions for preserving foods, including jarring salmon and making wild berry jam, extend the book beyond individual recipes. 

Throughout, the authors provide names for species in Sm’algyax, the Ts’msyen language. They also discuss ethical harvesting, ecological stewardship, and the cultural significance of particular foods. Their aim isn’t to present Ts’msyen cooking as something historical, but to preserve ancestral knowledge by putting it back into use. 

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.