CUT KNIFE - “When we gather at the family table, we don’t just share food, we share love, tradition, and warmth."- Curtis Stone
The town of Cut Knife gained a new downtown business recently, Jo-Eva’s Café, with family and tradition as one of the key components of the venture for owner Christine Antoine.
Antoine has decades of experience not only as an entrepreneur but in the food service industry as well. In the 1990s, she ran Dusty Café on the Poundmaker Cree Nation before taking her food on the road, travelling to different powwows and First Nations, towing her concession trailer Dusty Roads and family along.
With extensive experience in the kitchen, Antoine wanted to have something she could leave as a legacy to her family. As a survivor of the Delmas residential school and being a daughter of residential school survivors, Antoine knew she wanted to honour her parents, Joe and Eva Antoine, with the new business venture.
Joe attended the Onion Lake Residential School before joining the Army in Turtleford, where he served as a machine gunner and sniper during the Second World War. After seeing action in England, Sicily, Italy and North Africa, Joe was discharged with the rank of sergeant. Eva, who attended the Delmas Residential School, met Joe after the war. They settled in Poundmaker Cree Nation and grew their family with 12 children. Eva was well-known as a beader, homemaker and caretaker to her many grandchildren.
Family means everything to Antoine and with the opening of Jo-Eva’s Café, she did not have far to look for help said grand-daughter Delainee Antoine-Tootoosis.
“Her adopted children Caz and Scott helped on the powwow trail for many years with food prep and cooking. Daughters Deanne and Ronna help with planning and shopping while renovations and the building are looked after sons Darwin and Levi.” She also adds that Antoine has seven of her grandchildren helping with everyday service.
The entrepreneur had been an avid traveler for most of her life, recently living in Jackpot, Nev. before moving back to Poundmaker Cree Nation to open this new business.
“This business will help her family with job security while creating a kinship and community for them. Kokom wants to prove that Nehiyawak (Cree people) can follow their dreams and be successful. She wants to how our people what they are capable of, with hard work and determination, our people can do anything,” said Antoine-Tootoosis.
While Jo-Eva’s menu is limited at this time, the flavours of the homemade meals are anything but limited. Antoine made sure to pay tribute to traditional powwow foods, including her famous Bannock.
“Our locals love Kokom’s Bannock. We have had customers who travel to town to support us and our First Nations customers have found the food to be nostalgic for them. They often reminisce about the concession trailer at the powwows, especially our famous gravy,” said Antoine-Tootoosis.
Although they have only been open for a short time, the Jo-Eva’s staff said there have been some challenges, but it has been heartwarming to hear all the praise about the food and how much work they have been doing.
“We have faced some hardships when communicating between ourselves, but we have overcome those challenges. We continue to hear so many good things and we have had so much support, especially as an Indigenous-owned and operated business and we have become so close. It’s nice to have our family unity back together again.”
