Crystal Wahpepah
Crystal Wahpepah is an enrolled member of the Kickapoo nation of Oklahoma Sac and Fox Nation. She was born and raised in Oakland, California, on Ohlone land, surrounded by a multi-tribal, tight-knit, urban Native community. Crystal’s objectives for Wahpepah’s Kitchen are threefold: (1) to acknowledge that we live on stolen land; and (2) how that acknowledgement connects to the reclamation of Native food ways (food sovereignty); as well as (3) to educate communities and organizations on the health benefits of Native food ways using the knowledge passed on to her. Although it’s impossible to boil down the cultural food ways of 600 federally recognized tribes across the country into a single statement (Native Americans are not a monolith), something many nations have in common is the sharing of food and caring for each other in a community setting. Crystal has observed and participated in her cultural food ways since she was a small child. Her work cannot be separated from her culture or identity as a Native American woman, daughter, grand-daughter, niece, aunt, mother and community member.
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