Miyumiichisuu: A taste of traditional Cree cuisine for Montreal en Lumire

Miyumiichisuu means "enjoy your meal" in East James Bay Cree.

Eight Cree cooking students and their teacher sharedthe expression and helped prepare a meal inspired by traditional Cree cooking this week as part of Montreal en Lumire, a winter festival in the city with a focus on food, performing arts and outdoor activities.

The students are from different communities in the Cree Nation, all studying professional cooking at the Sabtuan Regional Vocational Training Centre in Waswanipi, Que.

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But for two days this week they worked in the kitchen of Helena Loureiro, head chef and owner of Portus 360, a revolving portuguese restaurant high atop Montreal.

"It's [about] mixing our traditional cooking with portuguese cooking," said student Iris Awashish from Mistissini, who was busy making canaps with her classmate Agnes Kawapit.

"I love it, actually. I love food. It's fun working the kitchen, especially if you want to work in the industry."

The Cree students, along with their teacher Jocelyn Myre, helped prepare a six-course meal featuring ingredients such as Labrador tea, berries, traditional dumplings and bannock, alongside fish and traditional meats like hare, venison and goose.

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"I find [the collaboration] super interesting," said chef Loureiro, adding it's the first time she's collaborated with Indigenous cooks.

"It's different from what I do every day. I learned things. My team learned things. It's the magic of this festival."

The collaboration between Myre, his students and Loureiro came together with the help of Jean-Paul Grappe, a well-known French chef, culinary teacher and author in Montreal.

The menu was created in January, when Loureiro visited the vocational school in Waswanipi to work on different recipes with Myre and his students.

"[It's good] to be able to mix up our recipes to create another way," said Myre. "Like a consomm with hare with the siipaai [traditional dumplings] in it. They would never do that in the South. And we [in the North] would never do it with consomm."

"[The students] get real-life experience with a big group and seeing how a great chef can work," said Myre, adding they received great feedback from those who came to the event.

"They are proud of what they are doing."