Explore the Cedar Box Teaching Toolkit
The Cedar Box Teaching Toolkit is an educational resource featuring thirteen important native foods in Salish Country and the rich cultural traditions that surround them. The toolkit includes a curriculum with descriptions of each food, teaching cards, videos, a poster, and the Feed 7 Generations recipe book. Harvest ethics and reciprocity are foundational to the toolkit, as well as supporting and uplifting tribal food sovereignty.
The first Cedar Box Teaching Toolkit was developed in 2012 by Northwest Indian College Cooperative Extension Traditional Plants and Foods Program staff as an exhibit for the Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and First Nations Institute funded projects to further develop the curriculum and replicate the demonstration boxes for tribes and Native organizations in Western Washington.
Project participants from tribes across Western Washington attended all-day foods and plant technologies workshops where they learned to harvest, prepare, and preserve foods and make cedar bentwood boxes, cooking tongs, cattail mats, and other cooking tools. These foods and tools were used to create cedar box toolkits, which were given to tribes and University of Washington’s Burke Museum. Learn more and access the curriculum on the Native Plants and Foods Curriculum Portal.
The Cedar Box Experience
Tahoma Peak Solutions partnered with GRuB's Wild Foods and Medicines program, Feed Seven Generations, and the Swinomish Community Environmental Health Program to create a digital version of the toolkit called the Cedar Box Experience. This interactive and educational website offers an immersive journey into Pacific Northwest plants, foods, cultural ecosystems, and Coast Salish foodways.
Users can play games, watch videos, listen to stories, and explore the sights and sounds of cultural ecosystems as they learn about plants and foods of the Pacific Northwest region. The three educational resources featured on the website were developed with an emphasis on serving Native communities and include Indigenous knowledge, stories, and traditions.
Visit the Cedar Box Experience Website
Play games, watch videos, listen to stories, and explore the sights and sounds of cultural ecosystems as you learn about plants and foods of the Pacific Northwest region.