106 ICE placement #12

Today Beth and I finally learned how to make Bannock! I had been waiting for this lesson since we got here… this is the cultural thing (other than tobacco) that seems to present at every function, almost every meal.

Bannock is a type of traditional bread. It only had three ingredients (although we were told that you can add a whole lot of extras if you like). The three ingredients are flour, water, and baking powder. The secret though is in the method, and it’s a very unique method at that! I felt so honoured being told how to make this bread. Not even all of the women of the community know how, only some. It seems to be almost like a special tradition present only in certain families. The women are taught by their grandmothers as young as 4 years of age, and keep on mastering the technique until they are an adult.

We were all pleasantly surprised that Beth and I were able to follow our teacher’s guidance and actually make some rather good Bannock (we had been told that the first time you make Bannock, it’s usually hard as rock… and white women usually make “weird” Bannock). Our teacher thought that we had done a good enough job to actually bring our Bannock to the elders for their lunch! I was very pleased with ourselves!

I can’t wait to try to make this bread again on my own for my family (hopefully I’ll be able to do so without rendering it into concrete).

After we delivered the Bannock to the elders, our teacher took us on car ride to some areas that we hadn’t seen before (she even stopped to show us an eagle nest… the thing was HUGE).

The rest of the day was spent doing work and relaxing… We managed to slip in a walk between the bouts of rain even!