Ancestral FoodWays Society

Serving people, restoring biocultural foodways, growing community resilience.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to cultivate the skills and capacity to integrate culture into everyday life and advance Indigenous Sovereignty through community care, food, ceremony, and ancestral foodways.

OUR VISION

We envision thriving ancestral food systems under Indigenous sovereignty and resilient biocultural corridors.

Learn About Us

What We Do

To achieve food sovereignty, we revitalize land, water, and space to share food , meals, and knowledge through our community gatherings.

What We Do

To achieve food sovereignty, we revitalize land, water, and space to share food , meals, and knowledge through our community gatherings.

Our Programs

The Biocultural Corridor and the Indigenous Cultural Food Hub inform each other, modeled after the two-headed feathered serpent of the Coast Salish people.

Biocultural Corridor

Our programming uses the Biocultural Heritage Preservation Framework to guide the stewardship of the Ta7a Chinampa Garden. Through this approach, the garden is cared for not only as a growing space, but as a place where relationships between land, food, culture, knowledge, and community are strengthened.

Chinampa Garden

Space where the intercultural relationships meet to learn about the land and care. The chinampa is inspired by the ancestral knowledge of the Xochimilco in how to sustain a food system in a water system. Garden Drop-Ins on Wednesdays from March to October.

Eagles Path

The house of multigenerational eagles; the path leading up to the field house featuring the return of native species, water to the wetland and a waterway that retains water during the rainy seasons.

Outdoor Creativity Studio

Our shop space supports pole carving, hide tanning, and other cultural outdoor activities.

Cedar Mount Sacred Fire

We host fire ceremonies, Mayan ceremonial fires, and seasonal equinox & soltice gatherings in an area ecologically and culturally revitalized within the park with native plants.

Research and Living Memory of The Land

In partnership with SFU, we maintain oral history documentation that supports access to the land.

Extended Land Relations

Build connections across the cultural food systems that strengthen networks through an Indigenous relationality perspective.

Indigenous Cultural Food Hub

We advance Indigenous food sovereignty, cultural continuity, and ecological restoration in an urban setting. Our programming centers on food sovereignty and using traditional foods to nourish our communities.

Field House Kitchen

Community food preparation and catering for eventes, celebrations and ceremonies.

Food Projects

Ancestral food preparation and preservation

Medicine Making

Traditional medicine and plant knowledge

Community Dinner

Weekly gatherings featuring traditional foods during Wednesday droppings

Volunteer With Us

We are looking for more volunteers to join us! Gather to tend to the land, share knowledge, and enjoy a communal meal.

Join us Wednesdays in the garden for drops ins and seasonal work or support our food programs and community dinners

Learn More

Support Our Work

Become a monthly supporter

Whale Support

$500+/month

Buffalo Support

$500/month

Eagle Support

$250/month

Spider Support

$25/month

Butterfly Support:

$75/month

Bee Support

$50/month

Spider Support

$25/month

Worm Support

$10/month

One-time impact

Fund a workshop and operations

$500

Fund a cultural gathering

$300

Fund youth and elder involvement

$200

Fund a community meal

$150

Donate Today

Bookings

For all bookings and inquiries, please email community@ancestralfoodways.com.

Modelled land based, traditional arts or food procesing workshop rates depend on the type of workshop and group capacity, email for more information

For all bookings and inquiries, please email community@ancestralfoodways.com.

Modelled land based, traditional arts or food procesing workshop rates depend on the type of workshop and group capacity, email for more information

Plant walks:

Plant Walks: $15–$25 per person, offered on a sliding scale based on the organization’s financial capacity.

Lunch may be included for an additional $10–$15 per person.

Plant Walks: $15–$25 per person, offered on a sliding scale based on the organization’s financial capacity.

Lunch may be included for an additional $10–$15 per person.

Funders & Partners

We are grateful for the support of our community partners and funders who make our work possible:

Land Acknowledgement

The land we gather, organise and heal alongside, is the unceded and occupied territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples - since time in memorial.

The land we gather, organise and heal alongside, is the unceded and occupied territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples - since time in memorial.

This geographical inlet is a wetland region, known for its rich biodiversity. Embraced by the shores of the Salish Sea, the delta of the Stó:lô River Basin and the expansive rainforest of the North Shore Mountains.

This geographical inlet is a wetland region, known for its rich biodiversity. Embraced by the shores of the Salish Sea, the delta of the Stó:lô River Basin and the expansive rainforest of the North Shore Mountains.