‘Finding Manoomin: A Search for the Spirit of Wild Rice’

Leah Lemm, a citizen of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, practices her culture in many ways. She’s been slowly learning Ojibwemowin, the Ojibwe language. She helps share Native stories in her work as an MPR News senior editor who leads our Native News team. She stays active and attends community events. And every couple of years she harvests maple sap for syrup.

But aside from cooking her famous Ojibwe fried rice, Leah didn’t feel connected to the significance of Manoomin — a sacred plant revered for its sustenance and deep connection to Indigenous identity and heritage.

So, she set out with a film crew to connect with her cultural roots through the tradition of wild rice harvesting.

That film, “Finding Manoomin: A Search for the Spirit of Wild Rice” aired on TPT on Nov. 27 and 28, and will be available for on-demand viewing here, as part of Native American Heritage Month.

You can hear Lemm sharing highlights from the film and reflecting on her experience in this audio documentary, which aired on MPR News on Nov. 28.

As a gift, Lemm wrote a song about her about her experience harvesting wild rice.

Manoomin, the good berry (wild rice) is considered a relative and a spirit, and part of the Ojibwe migration prophecy.

Many years ago, an Ojibwe elder had a dream: go west until you find the place where food grows on the water. That guidance brought the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe here to Minnesota.

Ojibwe fried wild rice recipe

Ingredients 

• 3 cups cooked wild rice (Leah’s note: I like to prepare the rice with half water and half chicken broth) 

• 3 thick cut bacon strips 

• 2 eggs 

• 6 scallions 

• Salt and pepper 

Heat a large pan on the stove, medium heat. 

• Chop the scallions, separate white and green onions 

• Fry the bacon until crispy

• Remove bacon

• Keeping the bacon grease in the pan, turn down the heat and sauté scallion whites for a couple minutes

• Add the cooked cold rice, stir until warmed through 

• Push the rice, onion mixture off to the side of the pan 

• Scramble 2 eggs on the open side of the pan 

• After eggs are scrambled, mix throughout rice 

• Turn off stove 

• Chop bacon and add to rice 

• Garnish with chopped green scallions and serve 

• Salt and pepper to taste 

This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.