Preserving culture
ABEGWEIT FIRST NATION — In the middle of a chill October night, Abegweit First Nation Chief Roderick Gould Jr., chef Chuck Hughes and Junior PeterPaul waited with spears poised on the band council fishing boat.
With cameras rolling, each man watched, waited to see slim and slithering shadows cross the boat’s lights or the light of the full moon on the restless surface of water.
In an instant, Gould stabbed his spear into the water and pulled out a wriggling, shiny eel.
A smile lit up his face as he remembered fishing like this 20 years ago, continuing the tradition of his ancestors. A tradition which will now be preserved online and on television.
This cultural night hunt will be featured on APTN’s "First People’s Kitchen with Chuck Hughes" as a featured episode.
“This way of fishing has been passed down from my father, and his father and generations before us,” said Gould.
“Mother Nature worked perfectly with us that night and we were able to harvest enough for our community and our community event and we were very proud to be a part of this.”
"First People’s Kitchen" is a show aimed at showing Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit traditions and customs around hunting, harvesting, foraging, gathering, cooking and preserving food.
The Mi’kmaq of Abegweit were traditionally harvesters, said Gould, and they ate mostly what they could forage from the land and in the sea.
Gould said many of his ancestors would take torches out into the night and go along the shores of the ocean and rivers of the Island to attract eels and other fish.
The light would attract their prey close enough so that they could spears them, providing food and sustenance for their communities.
“It is called flamboyant fishing, that’s how we hunted. We did a similar thing and caught around 20 eels," Gould said.
“We thought it was a great idea to preserve our knowledge, culture and heritage and pass it on to future generations.”
Gould said he would describe eel meat as very gamey, being thick, hard and greasy.
“Part of (why) we ate eel back in the day, was anything greasy and heavy was what preserved you to live, hunt and be more self-sustaining,” said Gould.
For Gould, it was tradition for his father to fish eel and sell or trade the meat for other goods or services.
About 20 years ago, many Abegweit Mi’kmaq would fish these “spear eel” and sell them to provide for their families.
Gould said it was an honour to share these histories and traditions with Hughes and his show.
“I think shared knowledge is important to preserve on any kind of media like television or social media to maintain our identity and our culture for our children,” said Gould.
“My son and my grandson, there’s three generations right here that are here today, enjoying the feast we made with this eel and they will pass those memories and knowledge to their children.”
To film the show during the month during Mi’kmaq Month was especially poignant for Gould, but he said every month is Mi’kmaq Month for his people.
On the last day of shooting, members of the community joined Hughes in a feast at the Mawi’omi House on the reserve.
“We were approached by Chuck Hughes and 'First People’s Kitchen' to shoot and episode so I approached chief (Gould) and he was so supportive and more than willing to take this role on,” said Chelsea Andrews, business and partner developer for the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I.
“Everything that was cooked and eaten here today was harvested at the Abegweit Gardens and on Mi’kmaq land and that is really important.”
Hughes, who has been filming this new project all across Canada, said the “First People’s Kitchen” was a personal journey for him to learn more about Canada’s First Nations people.
“I think that is the biggest problem with the world, we are so disconnected from our food, so that was the premise of the show for me. You see this honest and real way of making food,” he said.
“Using the whole animal, the hide to make clothing or bones for tools, it was something I dreamed up two-and-a-half years ago and now we are here.”
"First People’s Kitchen" will air in 2020, with 13 episodes documenting food culture in different Indigenous communities around Canada. Abegweit First Nation will be the final episode of the first season.
“I hope that we can do another season of this and learn and hunt and pass on to the world and my kids and the next generation,” Hughes said.