Mariah Gladstone

Mariah Gladstone is a Native American chef, food and environmental advocate, entrepreneur, and educator. Gladstone is founder of the online cooking platform, Indigikitchen, where she focuses on the use of Indigenous recipes and ingredients to teach Native American communities how to prepare traditional foods.[1]

Early life and education

Mariah Gladstone was raised in Kalispell, Montana near a Blackfeet reservation by her Cherokee mother and Blackfeet father.[2][3][4] She is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet and Cherokee tribes.[5][6][7] Gladstone learned about indigenous food systems, diets and cooking through her grandparents and parents.[3][2][8]

Gladstone studied at Columbia University, New York City, where she earned a degree in environmental engineering.[2] She completed a master degree in environmental science at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry,[9][3][2] under the mentorship of Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass.[4]

Career

In 2016, Gladstone founded Indigikitchen, an online cooking show focused on reviving indigenous foods and recipes through digital media.[3][10][7] Her main purpose with this show was to re-indigenize diets through how-to videos using pre-contact ingredients, and traditional Indigenous recipes.[5][6] An aim of the show is to showcase Indigenous peoples' diets that were disrupted by the impacts of colonization.[6] Indigikitchen is a portmanteau of the words Indigenous, digital, and kitchen.[4]

Mariah has also received recognition as a "Champion for Change" with the Center for Native American Youth, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She was selected as an MIT Solve Indigenous Communities Fellow.[5] She is currently on the board of the Native Youth Food Sovereignty Alliance (NYFSA).[9]

Gladstone created a project, No Kid Hungry, to incorporate indigenous ingredients and recipes into school lunch programs in Montana.[8]

References

  1. ^ "'Indigikitchen' founder teaches students about indigenous foods". KRTV NEWS Great Falls. 2023-05-11. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
  2. ^ a b c d Spencer, George M. (2021-10-07). "Mariah Gladstone | Cherokee Nation and Blackfeet Nation | Columbia University". Winds of Change. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
  3. ^ a b c d Breen, Kerry (2021-01-19). "'Indigikitchen': Cooking show connects people to their ancestral recipes". Today. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  4. ^ a b c Taylor, Nicole Estvanik (2023). "Putting Native Foods Back into Native Diets". Columbia Magazine. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
  5. ^ a b c Sherman, Arnie (2021-03-15). "Can Do: Re-Indigenizing Your Diet, With Mariah Gladstone". Montana Public Radio. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  6. ^ a b c Tennant, Zoe (May 16, 2019). "Recipes for resistance: Indigikitchen teaches diet decolonization". CBC. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
  7. ^ a b Thompson, Claire Elise (2021-11-30). "For Indigenous communities, protecting traditional knowledge means reimagining how it is preserved". Fix. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
  8. ^ a b Fong, Stella (2022-03-21). "Flavors: Mariah Gladstone of Indigikitchen shares Native foods". Yellowstone Public Radio. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
  9. ^ a b "Mariah Gladstone, Indigenous Chef, Food Activist". Montana Folk Festival. 2019-05-25. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  10. ^ "Grist 50: 2018". Grist. 2018. Retrieved 2024-12-20.