Inez Cook has no trouble recalling her inspiration for opening Salmon ’n’ Bannock (1128 West Broadway), a casual bistro that serves aboriginal cuisine. Driving near Kelowna on vacation last fall, she spotted a sign that read, Don’t Panic! We Have Bannock! She headed for Kekuli Cafe in Westbank, a small restaurant that serves the traditional aboriginal bread known as bannock.

Bannock isn’t always so easy to find. Cook, a member of the Nuxalk First Nation, grew up in Vancouver but felt frustrated by the lack of aboriginal cuisine here and wanted to open a place that served it. In a phone interview, Cook explains that she and the restaurant’s co-owners chose the name Salmon ’n’ Bannock because “It sends a sign to Native people—”˜We’re serving your bread, come on in.’”

A basic bannock recipe includes flour, water, baking powder, and a pinch of salt and sugar, but according to Cook, “Every First Nation has a different way of making bannock.” Salmon ’n’ Bannock offers a few styles, from baked bannock to the creamy, sweet Saskatoon berry bannock bread pudding. For a snack, Cook suggests the light and fluffy pan-fried bannock paired with an Indian candy platter, a sweetly spiced smoked-salmon treat.

While the food is rooted in tradition, Cook says the restaurant’s chefs enjoy innovating. In early August, they will launch a new menu that includes some modern twists, such as a bread bowl made of bannock that’s filled with home-style comfort foods like vegetarian or wild buffalo chili, or smoky, tender wild deer stew. Cook adds that the bistro draws inspiration from its diverse First Nations staff and the many customers who bring in their own ideas. “Aboriginal or not,” Cook says, “everyone who comes in has a story about bannock or a favourite way to make it.”

According to chef Andrew George of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, “There are a million and one ways to make bannock.” George runs Kla-how-eya, a Surrey-based pre-apprenticeship program for aboriginal students wanting to get started in the culinary arts. He describes bannock as “the staff of life”, noting that it is one of the most well-known aboriginal foods because of its long history.

Prior to European contact, George explains in a phone interview, bannock was a heavy flatbread made from corn and other grains. Modern bannock was influenced by early Scottish settlers, who introduced wheat flour and baking powder. The voyageurs transported these new ingredients across Canada as they traded with First Nations groups.

Today, George and his students are still coming up with new ways of making bannock. The Kla-how-eya program includes a catering division, in which students prepare aboriginal cuisine for groups as large as 700. Their innovations include smoked salmon bruschetta made with a bannock baguette, and a dessert called Bannock Bits that consists of fried bannock dipped in cinnamon and chocolate.

There may be a million ways to make bannock, but George knows that finding restaurants that serve it is another matter. He thinks this is connected to a shortage of aboriginal people in the hospitality industry, and he feels that programs like Kla-how-eya are bringing about change.

Theresa Contois, of the Long Plain First Nation, agrees with George and thinks aboriginal cuisine is on the rise. Contois runs the dining room at Wild Salmon, the student-operated aboriginal-food restaurant at Vancouver Community College (250 West Pender Street), which is open for lunch until August 27. (The restaurant operates during the last stage of VCC’s 12-month aboriginal culinary arts program. It offers several types of bannock; for information, call 604-443-8352.)

By phone, Contois says that First Nations communities are finally healing from historical wrongs and seeking new opportunities to share their culture. She says she finds it exciting to fuse traditional foods like bannock with fine dining because she can “expose people to something they haven’t had before”.

Contois also co-owns Kanata Cuisine, an aboriginal catering service. She loves the reaction she gets to the company’s Nass River seaweed bannock crackers, which have seaweed worked right into the bannock dough: “People see them and say, ”˜What a neat concept!’” She’s currently trying to perfect a cranberry-walnut bannock cracker. Her company also operates the Feast House kiosk at Klahowya Village in Stanley Park, where they offer fried bannock, sweet bannock, and more.

Despite the rising interest in aboriginal food, it could be some time before bannock can be as easily bought in Vancouver as sushi or shawarmas. For those interested in making their own, Contois has this advice: “It’s all practice,” she says. It’s important not to overwork the dough, or it will become rock-hard. “The key to making bannock,” she adds, “is the love you put into it.”

Looking for a bannock recipe? A Feast for All Seasons: Traditional Native Peoples’ Cuisine, by Andrew George with Robert Gairns, is being re-released by Arsenal Pulp Press this September. Find a sneak peak of the book’s bannock recipe here.