Fish
was the main part of our diet, along with berries and game like bear and deer.
We preserve all the food the same way, by smoking it. We eat this smoked fish
every day, all through the winter. We boil it, warm it up in the oven, or eat
it just like it is. I still eat fish most days, even though we have other foods
available.
Traditionally our people caught all the fish that
their family would need for the whole year. If they didn’t catch enough
fish to put away for the winter, families would starve. We didn’t have
groceries stores in the old days. So, we spent a lot of time catching the fish
and preparing it for the winter.
Traditional salmon cache for storing smoked
fish.
BC Department of Education bulletin "BC Heritage Series - Our
Native Peoples - Series 1 Volume 9
We used
the whole fish. The guts and the eggs were also cleaned and cooked and served. We
made fish oil from the heads. The large bones made good sewing needles and some
of the other bones were made into hair combs. Salmon skin is very tough and we
used that as our Tupperware, for storing food. The people would tie one end of
the salmon skin and blow air into it like a balloon. Once the skin was dry, it
made a good storage container for berries and oil and fat. People would use
salmon skin to make their moccasins, moose or deer hide was not available.
We used
the whole fish. The guts and the eggs were also cleaned and cooked and served. We
made fish oil from the heads. The large bones made good sewing needles and some
of the other bones were made into hair combs. Salmon skin is very tough and we
used that as our Tupperware, for storing food. The people would tie one end of
the salmon skin and blow air into it like a balloon. Once the skin was dry, it
made a good storage container for berries and oil and fat. People would use
salmon skin to make their moccasins, moose or deer hide was not available. 
