Amug of nettle tea steams by a fresh slice of huckleberry pie. The oven stands dormant, sinks quiet and clean. Baskets, jars of herbs and bulk ingredients like dried plums, tricolor popcorn and several varieties of seaweed adorn the shelves alongside gleaming pots and hanging garlic braids. It’s not an auntie’s kitchen on the rez, or a new Bay Area restaurant. It’s a university research lab — the Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute. “We want people to feel invited into the space, to encourage them to learn with and from Indigenous knowledges and sciences,” said Cutcha Risling Baldy, who speaks and moves as though unafraid to take up space as she serves up pie and tea.
