{"id":886921,"date":"2026-06-10T15:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/?p=886921"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:46:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:46:05","slug":"heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Born and raised on the <a href=\"https:\/\/blackfeetnation.com\/\">Blackfeet<\/a> Reservation in northwest Montana, the natural world is in Mariah Gladstone&#8217;s blood. Even during the brief&nbsp;spell&nbsp;she lived away from home, while completing her&nbsp;Master&#8217;s Degree in Environmental Engineering&nbsp;in New York City, she sought out ways to&nbsp;maintain&nbsp;that connection.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs a poor college student, I&nbsp;thought:&nbsp;everyone&#8217;s getting&nbsp;sick, it&#8217;s New York City and&nbsp;supplements are expensive,&nbsp;but conifer&nbsp;trees are full of vitamin C,\u201d Mariah recalls.&nbsp;\u201cI got very into urban foraging because I realized: okay, this is what I have. What can I make with it?\u201d&nbsp;(She is quick to point&nbsp;out that while&nbsp;this applies to pine needles, spruce and fir, yew&nbsp;trees&nbsp;are poisonous and should be avoided.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike New York City, across the great plains and mountain plateaus of Montana, grocery stores&nbsp;are&nbsp;sparse. But flora and fauna thrive here in abundance, and Mariah&#8217;s ancestors learned the land and lived in symbiosis with this environment for&nbsp;millennia. Mariah has spent her career sharing the knowledge her Blackfeet ancestors have passed down through generations. &#8220;I want visitors like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/en-us\/tours\/secrets-of-the-rockies-and-glacier-national-park\">Trafalgar guests<\/a> to learn from thousands of years of history on the landscape \u2014 the stories, the animals, the plants that have been here even longer than people.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1350\" height=\"759\" src=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Gathering-near-Babb-Montana-edited.jpg\" alt=\"mariah gladstone\" class=\"wp-image-887016\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Gathering-near-Babb-Montana-edited.jpg 1350w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Gathering-near-Babb-Montana-edited-330x186.jpg 330w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Gathering-near-Babb-Montana-edited-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1350px) 100vw, 1350px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Mariah out foraging (Image credit: Mariah Gladstone)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-as-long-as-i-m-outside-i-m-happy\">&#8220;As long as I&#8217;m outside&#8230; I&#8217;m happy&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mariah is a born storyteller.&nbsp;It runs in the family, with her father co-founding what has become the oldest continuously running native speaker series in any US National Park 43 years ago. &#8220;When I started doing storytelling for that program in college, I was the first woman and the youngest presenter they had ever had.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From there, Mariah built an inspirational career within sustainability and food advocacy, starting with creating cooking demonstrations and online classes for <a href=\"http:\/\/indigikitchen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Indigikitchen<\/a>, her platform teaching people about re-indigenizing their diets with &#8216;pre-contact&#8217; foods that are native to North America. After a year working in government\u00a0writing a climate action plan,\u00a0in 2018 she decided to pursue Indigikitchen\u00a0full time \u2014\u00a0all\u00a0while working towards her master&#8217;s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alongside Indigikitchen, Mariah teaches&nbsp;visitors to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/tours\/secrets-of-the-rockies-and-glacier-national-park\">Glacier National Park<\/a> about&nbsp;Blackfeet history and contemporary life through storytelling and foraging, as well as hosting more focused plant walks through the land from her house on the reservation. \u201cI get to live really in connection with the seasonality of things,&#8221; she acknowledges. &#8220;Right&nbsp;now&nbsp;there are certain edible wildflowers that&nbsp;I&#8217;ve&nbsp;been using to decorate salads. In a couple of&nbsp;weeks&nbsp;they&nbsp;won&#8217;t&nbsp;be here anymore, but&nbsp;I&#8217;ll&nbsp;have new things. It keeps me very connected to the land.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs long as I&#8217;m outside \u2014&nbsp;picking berries, digging roots, playing in my garden, kayaking \u2014 I\u2019m happy.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1152\" src=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/View-from-the-front-porch-edited.jpg\" alt=\"Views over the Blackfeet Reservation\" class=\"wp-image-886927\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/View-from-the-front-porch-edited.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/View-from-the-front-porch-edited-330x186.jpg 330w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/View-from-the-front-porch-edited-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/View-from-the-front-porch-edited-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Views over the Blackfeet Reservation (Image credit: Mariah Gladstone<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-we-drive-past-the-house-my-grandpa-was-born-in\">&#8220;We drive past the house my grandpa was born in&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of Mariah\u2019s focal points&nbsp;is communicating&nbsp;the understated and lengthy history of the Blackfeet&nbsp;people on this land.&nbsp;\u201cThe reservation is&nbsp;about 150% larger in area than&nbsp;Glacier National Park, covering over&nbsp;1.5 million&nbsp;acres extending to the border with Canada,&#8221; she explains. &#8220;We have archaeological evidence that puts us here for at least 14,000 years. Glacier National Park was founded in 1910, so it&#8217;s cool to go back thousands of years before then, to bring in Native voices and get a totally different perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have long familial connections to the land, so I get to tie in stories that are personal to me. On tour, we drive past the house my grandpa was born in, or the family that opened the general store in 1913,&#8221; Mariah continues. \u201cIt helps bring Native people out of just a historical context.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSC05419-edited-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Mariah teaching a cooking class\" class=\"wp-image-886930\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSC05419-edited-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSC05419-edited-330x186.jpg 330w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSC05419-edited-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSC05419-edited-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSC05419-edited-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Mariah in her happy place. Image credit: Mariah Gladstone<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-people-are-seeking-out-indigenous-experiences\">&#8220;People are seeking out Indigenous experiences&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mariah emphasizes the importance of experiencing native ingredients in their homeland. \u201cIt&#8217;s&nbsp;amazing&nbsp;to be out on the land&nbsp;saying: you can touch this, you can taste this, you can smell this. Trafalgar&nbsp;guests&nbsp;are always a super curious group,&nbsp;and&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp;fun that&nbsp;they&#8217;re&nbsp;willing to try the weird berries&nbsp;I find.&nbsp;For the rest of their time in Glacier, they get to see those plants and munch on wild snacks.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Increased knowledge around Indigenous&nbsp;culture and history&nbsp;means that Mariah is now able to give deeper context to curious travelers.&nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s&nbsp;been interesting to see the shifting mentality of visitors in this area.&nbsp;Only&nbsp;10 years ago people were asking: &#8216;Is it safe to go into the reservation?&#8217;&nbsp;Now&nbsp;the questions are: &#8216;Is there a movement to change the names of the mountains back to their traditional Blackfeet names?&#8217;&nbsp;You can see&nbsp;people&#8217;s perspectives are changing and shifting toward seeking out&nbsp;Indigenous experiences and&nbsp;opportunities for learning, so we get to have deeper discussions.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1079\" src=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mick-kirchman-DCAYs2xrHmo-unsplash-edited.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-886981\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mick-kirchman-DCAYs2xrHmo-unsplash-edited.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mick-kirchman-DCAYs2xrHmo-unsplash-edited-330x185.jpg 330w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mick-kirchman-DCAYs2xrHmo-unsplash-edited-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mick-kirchman-DCAYs2xrHmo-unsplash-edited-1536x863.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Glacier National Park, which borders the west side of the Blackfeet Reservation<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-you-should-appreciate-the-prairies-as-much-as-the-mountains\">&#8220;You should appreciate the prairies as much as the mountains&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mariah&#8217;s best local advice?&nbsp;Don\u2019t&nbsp;let the rest of Montana&nbsp;get lost&nbsp;in the shadow of&nbsp;the mountains.&nbsp;\u201cPeople should appreciate the prairies just as much as the mountains,\u201d&nbsp;she&nbsp;says, acknowledging that the bounty of natural beauty in the region means that some of it&nbsp;flies under the radar.&nbsp;\u201cFolks will drive across the flat lands&nbsp;just&nbsp;to get to the mountains, but the prairies have such beautiful sunsets. You can see antelope, and&nbsp;even&nbsp;bison in certain parts of Montana.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe also have&nbsp;Badlands&nbsp;on the reservation; they&#8217;re&nbsp;in big canyons cut out by the river on the eastern part. They have these weird sandstone features&nbsp;and look very otherworldly,&nbsp;but most&nbsp;people&nbsp;don&#8217;t&nbsp;know about&nbsp;them&nbsp;\u2014 even locals \u2014&nbsp;because&nbsp;everyone&#8217;s&nbsp;used to our pretty mountain pictures.&nbsp;When&nbsp;the&nbsp;Badlands&nbsp;are&nbsp;in South Dakota,&nbsp;they&#8217;re&nbsp;a national park. When&nbsp;they&#8217;re&nbsp;in Montana, people just drive past them because&nbsp;they&#8217;re&nbsp;going towards the&nbsp;mountains.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Otherworldly Badlands, sprawling prairies, crystal lakes and mammoth mountains&#8230; Montana surely has it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/linhao-zhang-HGkarldKlkw-unsplash-edited.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-886982\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/linhao-zhang-HGkarldKlkw-unsplash-edited.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/linhao-zhang-HGkarldKlkw-unsplash-edited-330x186.jpg 330w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/linhao-zhang-HGkarldKlkw-unsplash-edited-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/linhao-zhang-HGkarldKlkw-unsplash-edited-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Montana&#8217;s Badlands are an underrated beauty spot.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Born and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in northwest Montana, the natural world is in Mariah Gladstone&#8217;s blood. Even during the brief&nbsp;spell&nbsp;she lived away from home, while completing her&nbsp;Master&#8217;s Degree in Environmental Engineering&nbsp;in New York City, she sought out ways to&nbsp;maintain&nbsp;that connection.&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cAs a poor college student, I&nbsp;thought:&nbsp;everyone&#8217;s getting&nbsp;sick, it&#8217;s New York City and&nbsp;supplements are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":887013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4909],"tags":[15663,23319,21451,327],"class_list":["post-886921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-stories","tag-make-travel-matter","tag-mariah-gladstone","tag-montana","tag-usa"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging - Real Word<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mariah Gladstone has been teaching the importance of Native foods for her entire career \u2014 this is her story, and an insight into Blackfeet life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mariah Gladstone has been teaching the importance of Native foods for her entire career \u2014 this is her story, and an insight into Blackfeet life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Real Word\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-10T14:44:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T15:46:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1708\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jess Williamson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jess Williamson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jess Williamson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b12fc6fa212773acaffd25447fc0674\"},\"headline\":\"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T14:44:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-11T15:46:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1137,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"make travel matter\",\"Mariah Gladstone\",\"Montana\",\"USA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"People &amp; Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/\",\"name\":\"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging - Real Word\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T14:44:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-11T15:46:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"Mariah Gladstone has been teaching the importance of Native foods for her entire career \u2014 this is her story, and an insight into Blackfeet life.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1708,\"caption\":\"mariah gladstone\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/\",\"name\":\"Real Word\",\"description\":\"Travel articles, insights and stories from Trafalgar\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Real Word\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/TT_RealWorld_Opt01-horizontal-Black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/TT_RealWorld_Opt01-horizontal-Black.svg\",\"width\":643,\"height\":83,\"caption\":\"Real Word\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b12fc6fa212773acaffd25447fc0674\",\"name\":\"Jess Williamson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/jess-williamson_avatar-500x500.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/jess-williamson_avatar-500x500.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/jess-williamson_avatar-500x500.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Jess Williamson\"},\"description\":\"Hi, I'm Jess. While my years of writing experience in the whisky industry took me far beyond Scotland, I now have the chance to write about more places for The Real Word (adding ever more to my bucket list). A highlight trip has to be backpacking around Vietnam with my sister, though my trips to Yosemite National Park, Madrid, and the Greek islands are up there too, captured haphazardly on my very unprofessional film camera.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/jess-williamson-39b096176\\\/\"],\"honorificPrefix\":\"Miss\",\"gender\":\"female\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"Writing\"],\"knowsLanguage\":[\"English\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Campaign copywriter\",\"worksFor\":\"TTC\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trafalgar.com\\\/real-word\\\/author\\\/jesswilliamson\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging - Real Word","description":"Mariah Gladstone has been teaching the importance of Native foods for her entire career \u2014 this is her story, and an insight into Blackfeet life.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging","og_description":"Mariah Gladstone has been teaching the importance of Native foods for her entire career \u2014 this is her story, and an insight into Blackfeet life.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/","og_site_name":"Real Word","article_published_time":"2026-06-10T14:44:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-11T15:46:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1708,"url":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jess Williamson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jess Williamson","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/"},"author":{"name":"Jess Williamson","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/#\/schema\/person\/7b12fc6fa212773acaffd25447fc0674"},"headline":"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging","datePublished":"2026-06-10T14:44:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-11T15:46:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/"},"wordCount":1137,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg","keywords":["make travel matter","Mariah Gladstone","Montana","USA"],"articleSection":["People &amp; Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/","url":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/","name":"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging - Real Word","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-10T14:44:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-11T15:46:05+00:00","description":"Mariah Gladstone has been teaching the importance of Native foods for her entire career \u2014 this is her story, and an insight into Blackfeet life.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/untitled-0279-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1708,"caption":"mariah gladstone"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/heart-of-the-usa-meet-mariah-gladstone\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Growing Wild: What the Land Has Taught Me About Food, History and Belonging"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/","name":"Real Word","description":"Travel articles, insights and stories from Trafalgar","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/#organization","name":"Real Word","url":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/TT_RealWorld_Opt01-horizontal-Black.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/TT_RealWorld_Opt01-horizontal-Black.svg","width":643,"height":83,"caption":"Real Word"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/#\/schema\/person\/7b12fc6fa212773acaffd25447fc0674","name":"Jess Williamson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/jess-williamson_avatar-500x500.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/jess-williamson_avatar-500x500.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/jess-williamson_avatar-500x500.jpg","caption":"Jess Williamson"},"description":"Hi, I'm Jess. While my years of writing experience in the whisky industry took me far beyond Scotland, I now have the chance to write about more places for The Real Word (adding ever more to my bucket list). A highlight trip has to be backpacking around Vietnam with my sister, though my trips to Yosemite National Park, Madrid, and the Greek islands are up there too, captured haphazardly on my very unprofessional film camera.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jess-williamson-39b096176\/"],"honorificPrefix":"Miss","gender":"female","knowsAbout":["Writing"],"knowsLanguage":["English"],"jobTitle":"Campaign copywriter","worksFor":"TTC","url":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/author\/jesswilliamson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trafalgar.com\/real-word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}