Why does Canada have so few First Nations restaurants? It’s certainly changing—for the better—but Nikki Bayley finds out why Indigenous dishes are only now appearing on menus.

One of the (many) things I adore about Canada is how people talk about the country being a mosaic, not a melting pot. The idea that each little piece helps form a greater whole—rather than losing its identity to melt into a homogenous mass—has always appealed.

And that mosaic shines brightest in Canada’s culinary scene where food from the land and sea is celebrated in the hands of many different cultures, resulting in glorious fusions of everything from Peruvian-Japanese to Korean-Mexican. But one flavor always seemed to be missing from the Canadian restaurant scene: That of its Indigenous peoples.