Local Indigenous duo share their culture through bannock
Kelsey Coutts and Destiny Hoostie recently launched Bangin’ Bannock based on the bread that’s close to their hearts
Bangin’ Bannock grew out of the BC Indigenous 3C Challenge program.
KELSEY COUTTS AND Destiny Hoostie grew up eating bannock. Both are from big families—each being one of six siblings—and the staple was a cost-efficient way to feed everyone. They never stopped loving it and have gone on to launch a new venture dedicated to sharing their culture by breaking bread.
Bangin’ Bannock produces dry bannock mix in eco-friendly packaging so that people can make the bread at home—just add water.
“Bannock is a well-loved food within the Indigenous community, with nearly every family having a recipe of their own,” Coutts tells Stir. “We offer bannock because it induces warm feelings for many Indigenous folk, some of who may not have their own recipe, and we wanted to share that warm feeling with non-Indigenous folk as well. Bannock, being extremely versatile, is a non-threatening food, and food is the best thing to have conversation over.”
Coutts—whose father is from the Nak’azdli Nation and whose mother is of Irish, Scottish, English heritage—and Hoostie, who is Assiniboine from White Bear First Nations in Saskatchewan on her mother's side and Norwegian and German on her father’s side, first started talking about bannock as a potential business when they met through the BC Indigenous 3C Challenge program.
A partnership between the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres and the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at University of Victoria, it’s targeted to Indigenous individuals aged 15 to 29 and requires teams to work together to balance community, culture, and cash (the three Cs) in a new business. Each team gets a $1,000 microloan and 45 days to start a venture that will create social, cultural, and/or financial value.
From the get-go, the duo gave back to community by donating 10 percent of profits each month to issues of importance to them, such as the Indian Residential School Survivor Society, the Lytton Fire Relief Fund, SheWay, and more. “Culture for us is being able to bring a cultural product to market, and what a better way to do that than through food?” Hoostie says. And that start-up cash? They paid it back within a month.
The more they get their bannock out into the world, the more the connection to their Indigenous culture through it is reinforced.
“This food is a big one at large gatherings, like powwows and potlucks,” Coutts says. “Because of this I think it brings warm memories and feelings along with its taste and smell, transporting you to these favourite events for a moment….This is the reason I feel connected to my culture through it. Although I know it is a survival bread and not a traditional Indigenous food, it brings warm memories of family gatherings. I think food in general is a huge connector for people to their cultures—especially a resourceful survival food. For me, in many ways, bannock represents creating something out of nothing and is very beautiful.”
Hoostie adds: “Bannock is a significant part of my culture; at any gathering of Indigenous people you will see bannock. And yes, it isn’t a traditional food to Indigenous peoples but it has become a culture food.
“My understanding of bannock is, since colonization Indigenous peoples were taken away from the traditional ways of hunting and gathering of food through segregation onto reserve lands and were then introduced to other food, including processed foods,” Hoostie says. “With the limited ingredients available, bannock was a simple yet delicious bread that became a staple food and has continued to be made by many Indigenous peoples. There are a variety of recipes and ways to make bannock or fry bread but they’re very similar across Turtle Island.”
The entrepreneurs say bannock can be enjoyed almost any way you can imagine: you can fry it, bake it, or cook it on a stick over a fire; it can be enjoyed savoury or sweet, and stuffed with or topped with practically anything. Some of Coutts’s personal favourites are bannock tacos, cinnamon-sugar-donut bannock, chocolate-and-marshmallow-stuffed bannock (“s’mores!”), bannock and butter with stew, bannock Benedict (“next level breakfast”), bannock burgers… The list goes on. “Bannock and jam is a common favourite,” she says, “and honestly the bread just alone hot and fresh is incredible.”
Ditto for Hoostie. “Oh, and a huge one in my family was bannock dogs,” she says. “My mom wraps bannock around a hot dog and fries it up, similar to a corn dog.”
The two have big plans and dreams for Bangin’ Bannock, which participated in Good to Grow’s 2021 From the Ground Up Trade Show, where it earned bronze for outstanding new product. They will be using Cree syllabics on new packaging to help in the revitalization of Indigenous languages. They would love to create a hub for Indigenous businesses and be able to mentor youth. In the meantime, they continue donate 10 percent of profits monthly to different organizations; right now, it’s FirstVoices, an online space for Indigenous communities to share and promote language, oral culture, and linguistic history.
Destiny Hoostie (left) and Kelsey Coutts.
“I just want to encourage other Indigenous entrepreneurs—Indigepreneurs—to take the leap and create a business with their ideas,” says Hoostie, a mother of three. “Indigenous representation in business is growing and it’s time that we take up that space. It's a lot of dedication and long hours but we've connected to a network of other Indigenous businesses that support and inspire you along your journey. I've become so dedicated and overwhelmed with how exciting this journey has been.”
As for the name, it came down to two options amid a long list of ideas. The pair almost went with “Bannock Babes” but discovered it had already been taken by a fabulous drag troupe in Winnipeg.
“Bangin’ Bannock really took on a life of its own,” Coutts says. “It’s evolved with both of our energies into something amazing.”
For more information, see Bangin' Bannock.
Related Articles
