First I would like to say how grateful I truly am for this course and for all of you! We all engaged with one another in a variety of ways and it’s such a sign of a great class when full attendance is met! I look forward to seeing you folks again in future classes or out in the real world someday. If ever you want to stop by my brewery for a chat or beer, I am at Luppolo Brewing in Stratchona/East Van. You can reach me at sales@luppolobrewing.ca or on instagram at WizardCrouton.

Second, thank you Jeremiah, Ashley, Claire and Ata for the wonderful conversation on Thursday and for putting together such a stellar lecture on the Mapuche. Prior to this lecture, I was not too familiar with their lifeways or foodways, so I was definitely looking forward to learning more.

I loved our conversation yesterday about merkén. In discussion, we realized you could only really buy it at Whole Foods or on Etsy (of all places). I wish we could have discussed this in class, although we did touch on it a bit with quinoa, about how Indigenous foods are fetishized on the market. Similar to turmeric, merkén is commercialized as this cure all ‘foreign’ elixir-esque fountain of wonder (that’s a lot but accurate). Similarly, we see how turmeric trends in and out. So this connects me to a previous lecture: as we recall from the “Broccoli & Desire” reading, Indigenous peoples surviving on export agriculture mostly rely on the changing and fluctuating Western markets that are based on consumption and popular food culture. Obviously, that involves ingredients like merkén, quinoa, avocados, livestock and water animals. In that sense, I think it’s important to really understand how we each play a role in food and culture exploitation. And that’s a major takeaway for me in this class. I am more mindful of my own practices and I have learned new ways to critique systems of power. I can’t say that I would have really connected colonization to my food practices prior to this class, but I definitely connect it now! More so too because I have been thinking about my family in Puerto Rico. With every reading and conversation we have had in this course, I have found new ways to understand my own history. That’s been the most rewarding thing I think, all the personal connections I have drawn from the class content. There’s nothing I love more than being Boricua, and I being able to do a project on my Taíno ancestors was a privilege and especially important to me because I got to share it all with you.

In conclusion, Tamara, you are the best prof!

All my best,

Grey