Red Sucker Afternoons

Editorial Note

“Red Sucker Afternoons” is the shortest piece in this collection and one of its most quietly powerful. In three paragraphs, the author traces a complete world: a grandfather, a ten-step walk, a table, a hand-fed piece of Nee-mee-stehk, and a ritual of remembrance that continues to this day. As a contribution to this special issue on Land-Based Teaching and Leaming, the piece reminds us that land-based food knowledge is not only passed down through formal harvesting trips or communal ceremonies – it is also transmitted in the smallest, most ordinary moments of love and proximity.

Those ten steps between front doors were a threshold, and the grandfather waiting at the table was a teacher, even if neither of them would have used that word.

The Cree language name for smoked red sucker – Nee-mee-stehk – is placed at the centre of the piece without explanation or translation, and that choice is significant. The word does not need to be decoded for the reader; it belongs to the memory as the memory belongs to the author. That quiet assertion of linguistic and cultural ownership is as pedagogical as anything in this special issue.

I sometimes wonder whether flavours hold a key to the past. Moments spent with my grandfather are always unlocked by the unique flavour ofNee-mee-stehk- smoked red sucker. Our front doors were ten steps apart all my life. Those ten steps would take me into another world of love and stories of wisdom.

Although it wasn’t anything fancy, his home was cozy in every way. He would be sitting there at his table as soon as I entered, smiling brightly at me. He would always say, “Sit down,” then hand-feed me a piece of that freshly fried red sucker with a splash of mustard on top. The smoked flavour was amazing – a nice crunchy outer layer, then soft on the inside. It was one of my favourite foods, and those were my best moments with my grandfather.

Since he introduced me to that combination of red sucker and mustard, I still eat it the same way to this day. A little ritual that keeps his memory with me in every bite.

About the Author

Stacey Moose is a University College of the North student from the community of South Indian Lake. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Aboriginal and Northern Studies. Raised in a community grounded in land-based learning, her experiences have shaped her connection to culture, land, and knowledge. She took the ANS 2900 Food Sustainability and Indigenous Knowledge course in the fall term of 2025. Through her studies, Stacey continues to honour and carry forward these teachings.

Editor's Remarks

Stacey Moss’s “Red Sucker Afternoons” is a masterclass in restraint. The student has understood something that takes many writers years to learn: that the most specific detail is the most universal one. A piece of smoked red sucker, hand-fed at a grandfather’s table, with a splash of mustard on top – this is not a general statement about Indigenous food traditions or intergenerational knowledge. It is one precise, irreplaceable memory. And yet in its precision, it speaks to every reader who has ever tasted something that opened a door to someone they loved and lost. The closing sentence, “A little ritual that keeps his memory with me in every bite,” earns its weight. It is not sentimental because it is earned through everything that came before it. This small piece holds a great deal, and it belongs in this collection exactly as it is. (Dr. Ying Kong)