Photo: Navajo Code Talkers gather in Church Rock, N.M. in 2010. (Antonia Gonzales)

Today is Memorial Day, and across the U.S., parades, ceremonies, and similar events are being held to honor those who served and died for their country. That includes an observance from a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) activist in Oregon.

Kimberly Lining is the founder of MMIW Search and Hope Alliance. She says she’s collecting names of fallen Native soldiers … not just in combat, but also those who struggled at home.

“Last May I lost a very close friend of mine. He took his own life. And it was very sad and very tragic. He was like a brother to me. And this year I thought I need to get more involved and bring more awareness to that. and I’d also like to bring more awareness to the Indigenous fallen service members, how they became so engrained into our military.”

Lining is hoping to present names of Navajo Codetalkers.

Being Navajo, Hopi, and Mexican, she says it’s a way to honor the men who used their native language to radio in troop movements during World War II.

“And I think it’s important that more people know about that. And those who gave their life and service to that. and It’s more than just outside non-Native communities. The native peoples have had such a big role in service to this country, and fallen for this country. And I just want to bring it to the surface, and start conversations. Not just about history, but how to Indigenous languages across the board.”

Lining says the completed project will be a video slideshow that she’ll make available on her social media channels, including that of her organization, MMIW Search and Hope Alliance.

Acclaimed Indigenous chef Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) is expanding his nonprofit to Montana.

Yellowstone Public Radio’s Ruth Eddy has more about his plans in Bozeman.

“So we’ve got ground elk, onions, delicata squash. We just chopped it up real fine. It’s got sumac, cedar and salt in it “

Chef Rob Kinneen (Tlingit) with the nonprofit Indigenous Food Lab is grilling at the kitchen of Fork and Spoon in Bozeman.

The social enterprise restaurant run by the Human Resources Development Council (HRDC) serves pay what you can meals five nights a week but also rents out its commercial kitchen.

Tonight the kitchen is being used for a pop-up dinner as a taste of what’s to come in Bozeman, as Sean Sherman’s nonprofit starts using the kitchen regularly sometime in the near future.

“Our goal is to try and get food access to tribal communities all across the state, and that’s what we’re hoping to do right here in this building”

Sean Sherman’s restaurant in Minneapolis was named James Beard’s best restaurant in America in 2022.

Owamni highlights Indigenous ingredients by removing colonial ingredients like dairy, wheat, flour, cane sugar, beef, pork, and chicken.

Tonight’s seven-course pop up does the same.

The elk skewer is plated on top of a dark red circle of sauce made from currents, topped with fresh ramps, and drizzled with a pine syrup, as Sherman explains.

“We harvested this pine cut it all up and then we’re going to cook it down with some maple syrup and some water and just let it simmer for a long time till the water starts to evaporate but it’ll absorb a lot of this pine flavor”

This is the only Bozeman pop-up on the calendar for the time being, but Sherman says he hopes a restaurant in Bozeman isn’t too far away.

Sherman says their first step is improving native food access, and making educational videos.

Megan Vincent was one of 80 guests at the pop up. She is a culinary arts teacher at a highschool in Lewistown.

She said the food was amazing, and the braised bison and wild rice flan were favorites.

“I want to figure out that dessert. I really want the dessert recipe, to see if I can make that with them. I think the idea of making desert taste that good without using those standard ingredients like sugar and dairy would be an amazing experience.”

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