​Food has been medicine in more ways than one for Inez Cook, owner of the award-winning Salmon n' Bannock Bistro, Vancouver's only First Nations restaurant, and its offshoot, Salmon n' Bannock on the Fly, located at the Vancouver International Airport. ​

Born a member of Nuxalk Nation in Bella Coola, BC, Inez was forcibly taken from her parents at the age of one and adopted into a white family. She was among about 20,000 Indigenous child victims of this practice, now known as the Sixties Scoop, although it was carried out between 1951 and 1991.

"The justification was that we'd be better off living European lives," says Inez. “But of course it was beyond traumatic for parents to have their babies taken from them, and this trauma has reverberated for generations."

Inez says that although she was one of the more fortunate children, in that her adoptive family was loving, she still felt out of place. "I was the only dark one, and I had this deep yearning for my culture that never went away."

As part of her desire to honour and reclaim her Indigenous ancestry and identity, Inez opened Salmon n' Bannock in 2010. It is a beautiful little gem of a place where guests get a taste not only of delicious Indigenous cuisine, but genuine Indigenous culture. All the friendly staff are Indigenous, currently representing 14 Nations. Ingredients are sourced carefully, prioritizing local Indigenous suppliers first, and sourcing from only within Canada as a second option. A rotating collection of Indigenous artworks is always showcased on the ruby-red walls.

It was the restaurant that led to Inez's reconnection with her long-lost birth family and community. As Salmon n' Bannock quickly became known for its unique and delicious meals, Inez met First Nations guests from all over BC and Canada. When she told a curious guest from Nuxalk Nation that her mother's name was Miriam, the guest phoned home from the restaurant and was able to confirm that Inez was part of her family and community! “She said, 'Let me be the first to welcome you home. We're family,'" Inez recounts with emotion.

Soon afterwards, Inez's blood uncle came to meet her. "He had promised my late mother that he would find me one day." Her uncle gave the restaurant a traditional Nuxalk blessing and invited her back to the community for a three-day potlatch. There, she met hundreds of relatives and was given her regalia, a button blanket, and the name “Snitsmana," after her maternal grandmother. It means "protector of the sacred dance, and lively."

“Receiving my traditional Nuxalk name was an incredibly emotional moment, a turning point -- it gave me a sense of belonging," says Inez. “I'm so grateful to have been reunited with my Nuxalk family, and to be able to learn about my culture and heritage."

​During the ceremony, one of Inez's newfound relatives showed her a photo of herself wearing an orange dress when she was taken away at one year old and pointed out that Inez was wearing an orange coat when she came back (in 2011, at 42 years old). ​

Inez has since returned to visit a few times and is always pleased to visit with relatives when they come to Vancouver and to host them at her restaurant.

Salmon n' Bannock's menu does not represent any one First Nation. It emphasizes wild sockeye salmon, bison, game meats, and seasonal or foraged ingredients with a long history among many Indigenous peoples across North America, including fiddlehead ferns, various berries, wild rice, and seaweed. The chefs put their own contemporary spin on traditional recipes. For example, they have updated pemmican, a mixture of dried meat and berries, by smoking, drying, and hand-grinding bison meat before blending it with cream cheese and sage-infused berries. This goes especially well with their delicious, freshly baked bannock.

Inez wants to offer more than just good food, she says. "I'm all about 'reconcili-action' -- I want the restaurant to be a place for people to learn about Canada's Indigenous peoples. Sharing our traditions through food can help build bridges. And I want people to say, 'Let's go for Indigenous,' just as easily as they might say, 'Let's go for Chinese, Greek, Thai – or whatever!'"

Inez is not only an accomplished restaurateur; she is also a published author of an educational children's book about her childhood called  Sixties Scoop.