Ancestral Herbalism, Food Medicine & Cultural Sensitivity
Darla Antoine
Darla Antoine believes that food is an overlooked or forgotten vessel for ancestral and spiritual re-membering. She has an MA in Intercultural Communication from the University of New Mexico where she researched how food creates and sustains our cultural lineages and legacies. Darla is an enrolled Okanagan tribal member and grew up in her ancestral homelands in Washington State but now lives on a high mountain farm in Costa Rica. Trying to give her kids roots where she is rootless has motivated her work in exploring the intersection of food and culture with ancestral and earth reverence.
I keep thinking about the increasing number of people in the world today who have ancestry from multiple and varied cultures. Ie, my grandson has a Japanese mother and a father who is of 1/2 Swedish and 1/2 European descent.. Which culture does one choose? Would he be accused of cultural appropriation if he some day identifies with Swedish or Celtic practices while looking very Asian? I know for a fact that he will not be accepted in Japan as “Japanese”, altho he currently has both a US and Japanese passport. Can a person feel belonging to more than one culture? Now, with DNA testing, we may find we have ancestry that we were totally not aware of, which also complicates thkngs, if one goes on a purely biological level.
I grew up a TCK (third culture kid), so I am hyper aware of what it feels like to not fit in. I have always been envious of people who have deep roots, and proudly proclaim their heritage. So many around me, in Oregon, proclaim with pride, how many generations they have lived here. Many seem to look down on those, like me, who moved here from another state!! (Yet they barely acknowledge the Calapooia, who’ve lived here long, long before their ancestors….)
I struggle with belonging, and find that I resent the fact that, in our current world, it is tied to biological ancestry. I currently feel a very strong identification with an indgenous culture (Sami) who I most likely have maternal lineage blood ties to, but I’d never presume to call myself Sami. Am I choosing Sami, just because I want to feel belonging SOMEwhere?
I also once relived a very clear past-life experience in China, so I wonder how that (reincarnation) fits in with all this talk of ancestry and culture? I feel NO sense of belonging with current Chinese culture, (altho I LOVE Amy Tan’s books and feel kinship with her characters.) I grew up identifying as part Japanese, and knew early on the VERY clear distinctions between Chinese and Japan culture.
I am, ultimately, a chameleon of sorts…with parts of me in many cultures, each of which has played a part in my identity in my current lifetime. When I hear/read about “cultural appropriation” it is difficult for me. How can we know what each person feels in their soul? Who are we to judge others for how they identify?
I’m thankful (more than you know) about the opportunity to raise my questions here. I’m curious what Asia would think of my thoughts and any advice she would give. …Especially to young people, like my grandson, who even at his age (4) , can feel he is “different”. It has been my experience, that blended children (and TCKs, like me) feel most at home in the US, which truly has SO many varied ancestries. Personally, I advocate for celebrating and honoring ALL of our distinct cultures along with our unique individuality and stressing all that we have in common.
Hi, Nan! Thank you for sharing your thoughts! As a third culture kid myself, I resonate with so much that you’ve shared- especially with the feeling of being a chameleon of sorts. Oddly enough though, I’ve always felt more comfortable in other countries outside of the US because there are less expectations around who I should/shouldn’t be in the countries that I’ve lived in. There’s a certain anonymity that I enjoyed living in London, Germany and even in Mexico. I might have felt more comfortable in those places though because I felt less pressure to belong. Since we’re hard wired to seek belonging and community, feeling out of step with the communities that are closest to us can be really difficult. For me, personally, it was easier to find community later on in life that wasn’t tied specifically to my ethnicity or my inherited culture. I focused on building community around my spiritual gifts and my love of plant allies. It’s interesting though, that the path I most resonated with came from Curanderismo and the Maya teachings in Mexico. I come from both Spanish and Maya ancestry and is comforting to connect to my ancestry through a path that wasn’t directly connected to my immediate family or where I grew up. Perhaps your grandson will find similar communities that will be interested in his unique talents and interests more than where his parents are from. 🙂
Thanks so much for your reply, Andres! I identify with so much of it. It’s taken me decades to feel at home here in the US, and moving to a small town in Oregon, was especially difficult. What you say about not feeling pressure to belong in some of the places you’ve lived, thereby making you feel more comfortable there, totally makes sense. I’ve felt pressure to belong both in Japan and in the US. (They are the only two countries I’ve lived in, altho I’ve traveled extensively.) Perhaps it’s partly personality thing (and maybe a gender thing?) I need to work on feeling of belonging. I feel most community with people who have lived outside the US, even for brief periods of time,
I find it fascinating that you resonated with the Curanderismo and Mayan teachings. I was quite shocked a few weeks ago to find that the plant ally that has been speaking to me is/was an important part of Sami healing and spirituality. (My likely ancestry) Perhaps there IS something to biological ancestry running deep…
Hi Nan! I totally get what you mean! I’ve found that over time I’ve tried to focus first on building self-acceptance. Perhaps it’s because I felt like an outsider for so long but now I try to accept myself which lessens the burden of trying to belong. Meditation has been a great tool for me in that regard and also helped me connect to my spirit guides. I had Maya spirit guides reach out to me before I knew that I had so much Maya ancestry. My grandmother was probably close to 90% Maya based on her DNA results but she was taught from a young age to tell people she was Spanish due to the intense racism at the time in both the US and Mexico. I really do think there is a strong link between our biological ancestry, our gifts and talents and also the traumas we carry. So when I’m working with guides to help heal those ancestral traumas, it’s my Maya guides that step forward. Perhaps it’s the same for you with Sami guides?
This bonus really resonates with me. I’m of Cantonese descent, and herbalism has always been split for me. On the one hand, there was western herbalism, and the intense female power of it. And then there was Chinese herbalism, which was always so opaque, and associated with male TCM healers and medicine shops. Words I couldn’t understand because I grew up in Canada, and not where my ancestors were from. Even though I so desperately wanted to understand it. After reading this interview, I did a bit more digging, and the notion of making slow cooked/low fire soups that were full of herbal material was actually centuries old! I mean, I knew but also didn’t know, if that makes sense. My mom and grandmother always made soup but I didn’t know that it was “ancestral”. I’d like to think somewhere in my maternal line was a wise woman who would pick weeds from the field behind the village to add to the soup pot. It made the thought of contacting my ancestors and doing ancestral work so much more.. whole. Great bonus! Thank you.
Hi Teresa, thank you so much for sharing about this experience! I loved reading how this bonus supported you in connecting with your feminine, Cantonese ancestry (and living legacy!). It’s beautiful to see remnants of that likely wise woman in the nourishing practices of your mother and grandmother. A low fire soup feels like one of the deepest medicines for body, soul, and spirit. So cool that this is a part of your family and cultural history. I would love to hear what your experience is if you reconnect with this practice!