CLOVER / 'TA'GWANU

Learn to eat like a local at this year's ​Kʼómoks Festival. Did you know that the Clover you see as you walk around the community has delicious roots enjoyed as a vegetable for many Coastal First Nations in British Columbia?

For generations, we have not only harvested them but kept clover patches groomed and cared for so that our families and many relations could collected the tap-roots of this beautiful and tasty herbaceous perennial. The largest of these are harvested in early Spring, leaving the smaller ones cleared of rock and debris to grow strong and lush.

Sometimes, the clover roots were wrapped in cleaned Skunk Cabbage leaves and buried deep in the cooking fire's hot ashes to roast. They can be also stacked on a cedarwood plank in a kettle, covered with damp cedar bank and boiled or steamed. For a larger feast with many guests, the tap-roots are steamed in big cedar boxes. It fills the air with the most delicious aroma!

​Look for them as you visit the beach and on your walks around town. They love soft-sandy soil like the type we find in our coastal dunes, estuaries and tidal meadows—so they love Kʼómoks Territory.

In Kwak'wala, we call them ‘ta’gwanu (pronounced tag-wanu).