On the Fraser Valley’s riverbanks, Fort Langley National Historic Site delves into the Hudson’s Bay Company’s fur-trading history. Rough-hewn timber buildings recreate a snapshot of 19th-century life in the region.
At the heart of the complex, Tradish’s The Ancestor Cafe, the brainchild of Chef Sarah Meconse Mierau, invites visitors to discover natural plant medicine rooted in Indigenous knowledge via homemade lemonades, jams, cappuccinos, and a range of savory dishes. From elk bannock tacos and bison sweet potato pie to sweet baked goods like bannock bites, dishes and their accompaniments (for example, the blackberry sage side salad) often contain beneficial, plant medicines wherever possible.
Ingredients such as juniper, chamomile, dandelion, and lavender are worked with in-house (for example, turned into simple syrups for lemonades), and always organic and sourced from local land to support Indigenous food sovereignty. According to Mierau, this also ensures that plants are never overharvested.
For Mierau, a Sayisi Dene First Nation member, the path to Ancestor Cafe was a desire to reconnect Indigenous peoples—especially those who grew up like she did, in urban areas away from their communities—with heritage foods. What started as a personal research project for the chef to connect her ancestry with her culinary life’s work (Mierau has an advanced diploma in culinary arts and restaurant ownership from the Art Institute of Vancouver, and has worked in many kitchens in and around Vancouver), became a successful business selling artisan jams with plant-based medicinal properties. Market and online sales led to starting a food truck, Tradish, with hot dishes and eventually, to The Ancestor Cafe’s opening in February 2024.
The cafe’s minimalistic, wood-paneled interior, adorned with original artworks by Cree painter James Groening and other First Nations artists, makes for a cozy seating area; local Indigenous products are also displayed for purchase around the store. Plant medicine jams from a local organic farm (sweetened and thickened using only natural ingredients such as maple syrup and chia seeds) come in delicious variations such as smokey juniper cherry and raspberry dandelion make for excellent take-homes.
