Second Annual Manoomin Soup Cook-Off

We had our Second Annual Community Appreciation Wild Rice Soup Cook-Off on Saturday, March 9th and it was a HIT! We nearly doubled attendance from last year - as people filled the halls of the NAIA (North American Indian Association) to join us for the festivities.

Our three cook-off winners! (L-R): First place, Kaela Wabanimkee Harris, Odawa/Ojibwe (who also won first place last year); Second place was Andrea Pierce, Little Travis Bay Odawa; and third place was Alex Annette (Burgess), Sault Saint Marie Chippewa.

Dynamite Hill Farms provided the wild rice, Maple Buds Kitchen provided extra eats. In true Indigenous style, we had fabulous raffle drawings throughout the day which concluded with a drawing for one of Grandmother Jessie’s fabulous handmade quilts. Eleven contestants participated in the soup cookoff for judging and we sent the happy winners off with cash prizes!

Manoomin is the name for wild rice in Anishinaabemowin and the Anishinabek Confederacy of the Three Fires located in Michigan continues to have a significant relationship to wild rice. It is a central part of the diet for the people of the land, as well as a part of the Migration Story:

“In the Third Fire, the Anishinaabe will find the path to their chosen ground, a land in the west to which they must move their families. This will be the land where food grows on water.”

CRAFT wishes and works to be good visitors on this land and the cookoff is part of our gratitude. To honor the history and cultural importance of wild rice to its people we open the halls for some good old-fashioned competition amidst community. It is our great privilege to provide this gathering for the people. We hope to see you at the THIRD Annual Community Appreciation Wild Rice Soup Cook-off come 2025!