Trailside Meals
In the wake of recent political-economic changes in northern Canada, mobile teams of Chipewyan (Dene) hunter-trappers and fishermen now endure long periods of isolation away from the centralized settlements where other family members largely live and work. In this context, Chipewyan men are confronted with a structural dilemma. They must choose among replicating, abandoning or modifying the highly specialized food processing and preparation skills which were routinely performed by women in seasonally nomadic family camps of former years. Analysis will focus upon meal preparations and dining practices in the all-male bush camps of recent years and how these behaviors reflect vexing shifts in gender relations. Paradoxically, while men retain many historically familiar ingredients in their diet, the absence of women’s expertise in processing these items places contemporary men’s cuisine in a potentially ambiguous status : wild food or bush food that is not fully Chipewyan.