What is Haudenosaunee Food Sovereignty?

For Haudenosaunee peoples, the People of the Longhouse, our connection to the natural world is central to our identity. Our original instructions began with our creation. We are instructed by the Creator to have love for each other, to give thanks, and to care for the natural world we have been given. We were reminded of these instructions again in our history of the Great Law. In it, the Peacemaker looked at the cause of warfare and saw it was access to resources, so he shared his message of peace and the principle of the ‘dish with one spoon.’ This principle ensured that all nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy would no longer have territorial boundaries and would share our resources, which ensured diversity of food sources and sustainability of these sources, as we could rotate crops and hunting or gathering grounds (Hill, 2017). Learning the Haudenosaunee Creation Story and the Great Law promotes a better understanding of food sovereignty and sustainability from a Haudenosaunee perspective.