About this episode

Kendal Garlow discusses the relationship between food, identity, and community from an Indigenous perspective.

What can food tell us about who we are? This month, we visit with Kendal Garlow, a Kanyen'kehà:ka food sovereigntist, entrepreneur, and recent graduate of McMaster University's Master of Indigenous Studies program. Through a Haudenosaunee lens, Kendal explores the relationships between food, identity, language, health, community, history, and belonging. Her master's research asked a deceptively simple question: How do Haudenosaunee food decisions influence identity, and vice versa? In this conversation, Kendal shares how Indigenous methodologies shaped her research process, why relationships mattered more than extraction, and what she learned from a significant so-called "failure" in previous academic adventures. Not a spoiler - but she let herself release the program, then came back super strong in her Indigenous Studies masters. She also discusses a decision that challenges conventional academic expectations: choosing not to publish portions of her research in order to protect the identities and stories of community members, including residential school survivors. Along the way, we talk about food sovereignty, Indigenous education, community wellbeing, and her work co-founding…

People in this episode

Host: Kahstoserakwathe

Guest: Kendal Garlow

Topics covered

• food sovereignty
• Indigenous education
• identity
• community wellbeing
• research methodologies

Keywords

• food sovereignty
• Indigenous studies
• identity
• community
• research
• Haudenosaunee
• health
• failure

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: McMaster University, SproutSync

Places: Haudenosaunee, Kanyen'kehà:ka

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