Whitman College Hosts Inaugural First Foods Festival

By Pan Deines ’26 and Heidi Pitts ’01
Photography by Gauri Vaidya ’28 and Kaitlin Moor of Kaitlin Moor Photography

Graphics of a salmon, deer, berries and sunflower.

On Saturday, Nov. 9, Whitman College hosted the inaugural First Foods Festival as part of its celebration of Native American History Month. The festival, which is intended to become an annual event on the second Saturday of November, offered activities and education to the Whitman and Walla Walla communities about local tribal history and environmental stewardship initiatives.

This year’s festival featured a dogbane cording class, a film screening and panel, a food waste reduction presentation, and the chance to sample a range of delicious First Foods.

What Are First Foods?

The five traditional First Foods of the Walúulapam (Walla Walla), Weyíiletpuu (Cayuse) and Imatalamłáma (Umatilla) people are water, wild game, berries, roots and salmon. Historically, the tribes traveled in a yearly cycle to harvest these foods, which were available during different seasons throughout northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington and all the way to the Pacific Coast and into Canada.

Giving Thanks

Jeanine Gordon, Special Assistant to the President for Native American Outreach, opened the festival with a land acknowledgment before welcoming Michael Ray Johnson, General Council Vice Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) to lead the opening blessing.

“We need to have one heart, one mind, to learn about the history of our homeland, the foods, and the gatherings and teaching that people have done for many, many years,” Johnson said before inviting the audience to offer prayer and thanks in their own ways. Tribal members joined in as Johnson sang, accompanied by a handbell, while others in the audience listened and swayed in rhythm to the music.

Saving the Salmon

Tribal and Washington state history came into sharp focus during the screening of “Fish War,” an award-winning 2024 documentary exploring the tribes’ fight to exercise their fishing treaty rights. Using historical footage and first-person interviews, the film explored the economic, political and cultural struggles that not only ensured tribes the right to fish but spurred their communities to become leaders in habitat restoration and conservation.

Picking up on the hopeful ending note of the documentary, participants in the Fish, Water and Treaty Rights Panel that followed shared about local efforts to save the salmon. Judith Johnson of Kooskooskie Commons discussed multiple sites where riparian restoration has taken place in the Walla Walla Valley. These conservation projects are frequently partnerships between the CTUIR, government and other local organizations, including Whitman’s Stream Team.

Also on the panel was Corinne Sams, a CTUIR Board Member who received a 2024 Indigenous Leadership Award in recognition of her long-term advocacy for the restoration of salmon in the Columbia River Basin. Sams exhorted the audience to pay attention to local, county and state environmental legislation. “We are always looking for allies. Stay informed, share information and, when needed, pick up the phone and be involved!”

CTUIR’s New Food Waste Project

In an afternoon session, CTUIR staff members Colleen Sanders and Althea Huesties-Wolf presented their food waste reduction project, “Nixyáawii, Awkú Čáwpam Áḱaatta!” (“Nixyáawii, Don’t Throw It Away!”). Colleen Sanders is the project’s Climate Adaptation Planner, and Althea Huesties-Wolf is a Hanford Policy Analyst for CTUIR and Adjunct Assistant Professor of English and Indigeneity, Race and Ethnicity Studies at Whitman. Aiden Wolf ’26, one of the first recipients of the Šináata Scholarship, introduced the speakers.

Sanders and Huesties-Wolf explained the main goals of the project, which recently received a grant from the Department of Agriculture:

Work with CTUIR facilities to understand food waste types and volumes.
Build community knowledge and power around food waste reduction.
Implement a small anaerobic digester (a system that uses microorganisms to convert food waste into renewable natural gas and liquid fertilizer).

The CTUIR community already has intentional practices in place for food waste reduction in its hunting and gathering processes, but this project focuses on cooked food waste left on plates after meals. In addition, the project confronts the history of extracting natural resources from native land.

“We want to keep food waste here; we want to see if we can use this resource,” Sanders said.

A Delicious Conclusion

To close out the Festival, Bon Appétit hosted a First Foods Hors d’oeuvres Sampler, including bison meatballs, smoked salmon spread, Hayshaker Farms roasted root vegetables, huckleberry sauce and fry bread.

People in the buffet line serving food offered at the First Foods Festival.

Veggies served in a platter at the First Foods Festival

First Foods Gain a Permanent Place on Campus

Whitman College and Bon Appétit have introduced a First Foods Station at Cleveland Commons Dining Hall. This initiative, the first of its kind at a U.S. college, debuted with an opening ceremony on Friday, Dec. 6 and a menu featuring rainbow trout, herb-roasted elk loin with huckleberry sauce and house-made fry bread with chokecherry jam.

In addition to creating the physical space, which features labels in Weyíiletpuu and Umatilla languages to promote cultural learning and conversation, Bon Appétit invested in the station by sending its chefs to the CTUIR longhouse for specialized training in Native American food traditions.

In Spring 2025 the First Foods Station will be open the first Friday of every month. Looking ahead, Whitman and Bon Appétit aim to expand the initiative by hosting live talks each time the station is open and adding a First Foods garden this spring.