As inflation soars, access to Indigenous foods declines

CHICAGO (AP) — Traditional Indigenous foods — like wild rice, bison, fresh vegetables and fruit in the Midwest — are often inaccessible for Native families with low incomes in urban areas, and the recent inflation spike has propelled these foods even further out of reach. Jessica Pamonicutt is executive chef of a Native American catering service in Chicago. She says food prices and out-of-state shipping costs have risen so much in the past year that she asked her parents to grow Native foods for her catering business on their land in Wisconsin. Pamonicutt is among several Native community leaders in the Midwest who are working to expand urban access to healthy and traditional Native cuisine, but she says that mission is becoming less affordable each day.