Summer Traditions Reimagined: From Ancestral Roots to Trending Tables
Intro to the Recipes & Roots Summer Series
Key Takeaways
Summer is a season rich with traditional foodways that deserve to be reconnected with and reimagined.
Many of today’s summer food trends—like foraged berries, open-fire cooking, and fusion street foods—have deep cultural and historical origins.
This series explores how traditional practices from diverse communities influence what we eat and how we gather in summer.
Each article connects past and present through food stories that are seasonal, sustainable, and culturally rooted.
Our aim: to honour heritage while making space for contemporary creativity at the summer table.
Table of Contents
Summer is more than a season—it’s a rhythm. It’s when gardens overflow, fish are pulled fresh from lakes, berries are gathered by the handful, and food is cooked outside, often surrounded by community.
But behind every seasonal trend—smoked corn, wild fruit tarts, outdoor feasts—there are stories. Stories of migration, adaptation, colonization, creativity, ceremony, and survival. And far too often, those stories go untold.
At Recipes & Roots, we believe that reimagining tradition starts with remembering it. That means going beyond the recipe to understand the roots of what we eat—and how those roots can shape a more sustainable, inclusive, and delicious future.
This five-part series, Summer Traditions Reimagined, unpacks the histories behind the foods we love in summer, with a focus on:
Indigenous and ancestral food practices
Local and seasonal ingredients
Cultural fusion and reclamation
Sustainability and low-waste cooking
Food as community memory and creative expression
Each article in the series weaves together story, context, and contemporary relevance—inviting you to look at familiar foods with new eyes.
Here’s what you can expect:
1. Bannock Then and Now: A Bread that Carries Stories
How bannock evolved from survival food to cultural symbol, and how it’s being reclaimed and reinvented today—from powwow tacos to French toast.
2. Pemmican Power: The Original Energy Bar Returns
Explore the resurgence of this Indigenous superfood and how it’s inspiring modern snacks, from trail-ready meat bars to berry-packed bites.
3. First Fruits and Summer Bounty: The Heritage of Seasonal Eating
Honouring the importance of summer’s first harvests, especially berries and wild greens, and the cultural meanings of gathering food in season.
4. From Smokehouses to Street Corn: How Traditional Techniques Inspire Summer Trends
A look at open-fire, pit, and smoke-cooking traditions—from Indigenous techniques to global BBQ—and how they show up on modern menus and grills.
5. Global Palates, Local Plates: Summer Fusion with a Heritage Heart
When tradition meets innovation: how chefs and home cooks blend global influences with local, seasonal food in meaningful ways.
This series isn’t just about nostalgia. It’s about transformation. About learning how foods rooted in ancestry can evolve into something vibrant and new—without losing their meaning.
It's also about eating with the Earth, acknowledging where foods come from, and who first made them.
We hope this journey will spark your curiosity, deepen your connection to seasonal and cultural food traditions, and maybe even inspire your next meal or memory.
Whether you’re Indigenous, a settler, a newcomer, or someone rediscovering your roots—there’s a place for you here. Each article includes links to the others, so you can explore them in any order, or return to your favourites all summer long.
Let’s gather around stories. Let’s honour tradition and taste where it’s going next.
Start the series with:
👉 Bannock Then and Now: A Bread that Carries Stories
