Dr. Harriet Kuhnlein
Professor Harriet Kuhnlein (PhD, LLD hon.) is a nutritionist and Founding Director of the Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment (CINE) at McGill University. She is a member of several nutrition societies, and recipient of awards for distinguished service in nutrition. Harriet has conducted participatory research on food and nutrition with many cultures of Indigenous Peoples in different parts of the world demonstrating that Indigenous Peoples’ biodiverse food systems foster food security and good health.
WORKSHOP TITLE : Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems: An Essential Link to Well-Being
DESCRIPTION : Food security for Indigenous Peoples means that healthy food is available, accessible and acceptable to meet the needs for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. For many Indigenous and Tribal people in the world today, disparities prevent use of traditional ecosystem knowledge about food and health to create well-being. This happens even when Indigenous Peoples are custodians of essential plant and animal biodiversity throughout the world. The circumstances in which Indigenous Peoples live brings many kinds of foods into their diets. Well-being can be fostered by bringing together Indigenous knowledge and western food sciences to understand dietary options and create healthy food systems. Examples will be shared from research with several Indigenous communities where diverse food systems and health strategies were documented and used to platform successful health promotion programs.