Aacimotaatiiyankwi

As alluded to in this maple sugar blog post, the Office of Assessment and Evaluation (OAE) is working on a project that aims to connect Myaamia citizens with knowledge about Myaamia foods in a way that can support their family’s nutritional needs. 

Our team is officially launching the project for the community at the biennial Myaamiaki Conference on April 18, 2026, but we wanted to share some information with the broader community who may not be able to attend. 

Project Description

nahi miiciona nahi weehsininki: Proper Foods, Proper Diet is a collection of recipes that include foods or ingredients that Myaamiaki ‘Myaamia people’ have eaten since time immemorial. This includes things like persimmons, corn and hominy, rabbit, and more. While these featured ingredients may be unique, the recipes themselves are recognizable to the general American palate today – things like chilli, for example. 

To access the recipe collection, create an account on Šaapohkaayoni, the Myaamia education portal, and add the collection titled “nahi miiciona nahi weehsininki: Proper Foods, Proper Diet.” 

In this Šaapohkaayoni collection, you will see multiple topics that serve as recipe categories. These categories include course descriptions (main dish, side dish, etc.) as well as nutritionally focused categories (gluten-free, low cholesterol, etc.). 

Our intention with these categories was to make it easy for each community member to find specific types of food. Whether you are looking for a delicious Myaamia appetizer or an entrée that’s low in sodium, we wanted to provide labeling that made navigating recipe preferences and dietary needs (ideally determined in collaboration with doctors and/or dietitians) simple. 

With this goal in mind, it’s important to talk about why we included nutrition descriptions for the recipes in this portal. We are not proponents of any particular type of diet; we have tested and eaten all of the foods in this collection and are excited to share them all with the community. The nutritionally focused categories are designed for folks to easily feed their families while simultaneously meeting their own health and nutrition needs, and supporting everyone in the community in living well. (For more specific nutrition information, an explanatory video will be added to the collection soon!)

Once you select your desired category, you will see various recipes that fall within that description. If you want to see all of the recipes featured in the portal, click “learning resources” in the menu. 

It was important to us to prioritize recipes that are accessible and easy to make for the average person. We have included recipes commonly found at community gatherings, as well as other recipes that maybe folks have never had before. This collection was so fun to create, and it certainly will not stop at our launch. We hope for this project to continue to grow and meet the needs of the community over time. 

Background

This project stems from several factors that fell into place at the right time. First, the OAE had some remaining funds in the grant that funded the nahi meehtohseeniwinki model research. With these funds, we decided to use what we learned from the theory-driven side of our research to develop practical resources that community members can use to promote their own journey of living well. I (Haley) have wanted to engage on a deeper level with Myaamia foods for a long time, and this felt like the right opportunity.

At the same time, Gretchen Spenn became the 2025-2026 Aanchtaakia Graduate Fellow at the Myaamia Center while pursuing her master’s degree in Miami University’s Dietetic Internship Program. Her expertise in using food to promote nutrition and health aligned perfectly with this goal, and she has been key to getting this resource up and running.

This project has been attempted on a few occasions in the past, as community members seem to really want Myaamia recipes and information about traditional Myaamia foods. However, because a project of this nature is time and resource-intensive, it never made it to a stage that was able to be shared with the Tribal Nation. Thankfully, that’s all about to change.

Future Directions

The most exciting thing about this project is that it can take many directions; the opportunities truly are endless. We therefore welcome the feedback of community members to make it a resource that is helpful for everyone. In the future, we are already planning on expanding some of the technological features of the collection (like community submissions for recipes, for example), connect with Myaamia food systems (like gardens in Miami and Fort Wayne), publish a physical cookbook, and even include ecological information about growing, harvesting, and hunting to support folks’ access to certain ingredients. 

So, if you attend the Myaamiaki Conference, this information will be presented in a lot more depth. We hope that you stop by our presenter’s table and talk with us about the project. If not, feel free to reach out to Haley Shea (strassha@miamioh.edu) with any questions, ideas, and/or feedback!