Syilx Culinary Storyteller Challenges Okanagan Food Gentrification
Syilx culinary storyteller Kelsie Marchand (Kilawna) exposes Okanagan food gentrification, highlighting the missing Indigenous terroir and cultural erasure in 'local' food trends.
The Taste of Place, The Taste of Erasure
Kelsie Marchand (Kilawna), a syilx culinary storyteller, is challenging the Okanagan Valley's culinary narrative through her work at Smoke on the Plateau. Growing up surrounded by the sounds of kitchen life and stories from her grandmothers, Marchand has built a career centered on sharing syilx foodways through an embodied experience that connects taste, sight, smell, and sound.
Beyond the Wine Glass: The Missing Indigenous Terroir
The Okanagan Valley has become a culinary hotspot, with restaurants and wineries promoting 'local,' 'seasonal,' and 'farm-to-table' concepts. While these terms are now premium labels, Marchand points out that the concept of 'terroir'—a French term describing how land conditions affect food flavor—is being co-opted without acknowledging the syilx Peoples who have tended this land since Creation.
'What's missing from culinary discussions is the acknowledgment of who has been tending the soil,' Marchand explains. 'The same soil that syilx Peoples have been tending since the time of our Creation is now being used to justify higher prices without giving back.'
A Culinary Movement That Honors, Not Erases
Marchand's work at Smoke on the Plateau is a direct response to this cultural erasure. Through her program, she teaches the syilx/Okanagan homelands' foodways, emphasizing the Four Food Chiefs system—a governance structure that connects food, land, and community.
'Our foodways are not just about sustenance,' Marchand states. 'They are about relationships that collapse time and place into story. This is how we ensure we never forget the importance of our governance system.'
The Okanagan Valley's current culinary scene, with its focus on wine tastings and 'terroir' marketing, represents what Marchand calls a 'palate cleanser for the gentrification of our foodways.' She argues that the valley's food culture has forgotten to 'savour' the syilx Peoples' ongoing relationship with the land, turning a deep cultural practice into a marketing tool.