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environmental goals.
>> Reporting from Madison.

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I'm Zach Schultz for "Here&
Now".

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>> To combat health
disparities on the Oneida

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reservation. Ukwakhwa or
our foods is using a

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$250,000 grant to provide
culinary knowledge and

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ancestral education to the
Oneida tribal community

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"Here& Now". Reporter Erica
Ayisi traveled to De Pere

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to learn more about the.
From Seed to Table program.

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This report is in
partnership with Icty,

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formerly Indian Country
Today.

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>> Eldon Powless is an
Oneida chef. He's making

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lunch at Ukwakhwa or our
Foods kitchen on the Oneida

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Reservation near green Bay.
>> Here I get to just do

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what I want. They're just
like, as long as it's. As

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long as it tastes as good
and it's nutritious. Go

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ahead.
Comfort Bowl is an

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indigenous take on southern
comfort food.

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>> I wanted to do like a
little twist on that and

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use wild rice and use the
beans that we have and

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whatever we have available.
>> Local Ukwakhwa is in a

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restaurant, but Powless is
their guest chef for this

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week's meal. He says he
uses some heirloom

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indigenous foods that are
harvested on their farm.

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The Oneida way.
>> I try to like,

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incorporate whatever we can
get locally.

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>> His recipe of diced
celery, onions, carrots and

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locally sourced wild rice
are added to a butter cream

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sauce with roasted corn.
Black beans. Simmer in

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braised smoked ham hocks on
the side.

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>> Larsson. Stieg. Yeah.
>> Stephen Webster is

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director of farm and
culinary operations at

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Ukwakhwa. He says they're
from sea to table grants

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with the Wisconsin
Partnership Program

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subsidizes sales of hot
lunches made by indigenous

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chefs to restore wellness
to their diets.

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>> They get a stipend. They
cook about 80 to 100 meals

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for the community. The
community then puts in

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orders how many we want,
and then we pretty much

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disburse those meals
throughout the community.

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>> Webster says their grant
program offers community

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members meals rooted in
ancestral knowledge for

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modern living, integrating
traditional ingredients

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like corn and beans with
contemporary cuisine.

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>> The goal of this was to
try to expand people's

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palates.
>> The grant also

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subsidizes hands on meal
preparation workshops using

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products harvested on the
reservation.

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>> We've had people make
maple seed cookies, which

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blows my mind sometimes
where I was like, it was,

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there was no gluten in it.
>> Webster says. In this

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first year, the program is
meeting its goals.

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>> Like we did 1393 meals
just through the Hot Meal

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Noon program. And then we
did another 80 some meals

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through the the meal prep
class I talked about.

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>> Webster says meals like
the Northern Comfort Bowl

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would cost about $30 each
in local restaurants, but

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Ukwakhwa is able to offer
it here for $13 to the

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Oneida community due to the
reduced pricing by the

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grant. Webster says he
hopes to continue the same

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pricing when funding ends.
>> But now I feel like

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we're much stronger from a
logistics standpoint to

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take on this stuff in the
future.

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programs help the Oneida
community reconnect to

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their indigenous foodways
from a time when their

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ancestors were relocated
from New York to Wisconsin

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in the early 1800s.
>> When they came here

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again, it was they were
following Christian

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missionaries, but they were
still people who practice

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our our traditions, our
language and all that other

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stuff. And a lot of those
seeds came with them as

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well.
about indigenous

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cultivation?
most people are aware of is

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companion planting. The
three Sisters style of

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planting.
>> He says. Maintaining

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oneida's agricultural
methods of planting

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varieties of corn, beans
and seeds next to each

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other is a balancing act of
traditional and modern

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farming.
>> For 2 or 3 people like

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me and my wife to do it, we
have to use the tractor, we

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have to do stuff, but we
still make it a point to

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hand plant and hand Weid
and so forth to keep those

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traditions alive.
>> Twice a month, the

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Ukwakhwa team delivers
their culturally relevant

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meals to seven different
drop off sites along the

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Oneida Tribal Department's
route. Webster Ana Ukwakhwa

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staff and volunteers packed
up his truck with dozens of

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hot and ready, preordered
meals prepared by that

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week's chef.
>> Hello there. You get a

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bite one. All right.
>> Toni House picked up her

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three meals at the Ukwakhwa
farm, reflecting on her

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childhood memories of food
insecurity from

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colonization.
>> I remember what it was

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like to be hungry as a
child, you know? And I

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remember thinking, how come
people didn't hand me good

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foods?
>> She says the program

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will help younger children
have an appetite and desire

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for healthy indigenous
meals.

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>> Nutrition right here
impacts three generations

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automatically.
Scientifically. We know

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that. Now.
>> Back in the Ukwakhwa

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kitchen, Powless says,
traditional indigenous

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ingredients can be cooked
with love and risk while

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exploring new recipes.
>> You don't have to be

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super traditional and make
it a certain way you can

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incorporate it however you
would like.

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>> Webster says. From seed
to table incorporates the

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past.
>> Make sure that we kind

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of like go back as much as
we can.

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>> For a healthier diet in
the future.

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>> To what maybe our
ancestors were eating to

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help combat some of that
and address some of that.