3 Takeaways:

• The final 2026 Salt River Summer Speaker Series panel took place in September.
• The conversation featured Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community members Shannon Reina and Thosh Collins. Tohono O’odham chef Sandra Miller also joined the panel, hosted by Assistant Community Manager Lena Jackson-Eckert.
• Chef Miller’s N8TV KTCN catered the event and chef Reina provided food samples. 

Every meal tells a story.

For chef Shannon Reina, a favorite memory is being at her grandparents’ house as a kid, smelling the beans cooking and watching her grandmother at the table, chopping something.

“Food has always had a special place in my heart, because that’s what ties me to my family,” she said.

For chef Sandra Miller, preparing food is her ancestors talking to her.

“Cooking is a portal to my mother and grandmother,” she said. “I spent so much time in the kitchen because I didn’t want to be away from them.”

For health educator Thosh Collins, it’s his relationship to the land. Food can be hunted, foraged and grown.

“I try to partake in all those, building my personal connection to our foodways,” he said. 

Reina, Miller and Collins shared stories of food and how it shaped their way of life as part of a “Food, Culture and Identity” panel in late September.

The panel, held on Sept. 29 at the Council Chambers, wrapped up the 2026 Salt River Summer Speaker Series. Reina and Collins are from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and Miller is from the Tohono O’odham Nation. Reina is a longtime foodservice manager at Salt River Schools and Collins is a health educator, actor and author. Miller’s N8TV KTCN catered the event and provided a meal, while Reina provided food samples.

SRPMIC Assistant Community Manager Lena Jackson-Eckert has hosted two other Speaker Series panels this summer, as well as the series last summer.

The panel discussion lasted nearly 90 minutes and included questions from the audience.

Passion was felt in each panel member’s voice.

Miller stressed the importance of increasing your food knowledge.

“Events like this give me hope. Cooking demonstrations, … more [people] are asking for those things,” she said. 

Cooking led Reina to the school system. Each meal she helps prepare for students is another opportunity to share her knowledge. 

“The school nutrition program became my passion, my way to give back to the Community,” she said. 

“I have an opportunity to teach these kids, cook for them, share with them, help them,” she added. A goal is to introduce traditional foods a little at a time. “I really want to see a healthier Community overall, and the work I’m doing is a start of that. I hope I’m planting the seeds for our young ones.”

Collins gave Reina a shout-out. He recalled one school day picking up his young daughter early due to an illness, and she wanted to take home her lunch. He joked that if she wasn’t going to eat it, he would.

He also echoed Reina about slowly introducing traditional foods and finding ways to incorporate them into favorite meals.

“Mix up foods we have here with what you get at the grocery store,” he said. “We can vote with our dollar to decide.”

You can watch the speaker series on the SRPMIC Facebook page.