Steven Spence puts his heart and soul into his food. He’s the lead cook at Feast Café Bistro, a unique restaurant in Winnipeg rooted in Indigenous culture.

“It’s a spiritual experience for me to be able to take that raw bison, you know, and create something beautiful, create something unique that I want to share with everybody,” said Spence.

Soon, more diners might be coming through the doors.

At the Manitoba Museum on Wednesday, the federal government announced it’s investing $2.5 million into Indigenous tourism, with a focus on Indigenous cuisine.

According to the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC), one in three visitors to Canada want to take in Indigenous experiences.

“The world is interested in hearing from Indigenous people in Canada and it is up to us as a government and in the context of reconciliation to make sure this is a priority for us,” said Melanie Joly, Canada’s tourism minister.

The cash comes from the Canadian Experiences Fund, which is part of a strategy to create more jobs.

ITAC will decide how to divvy up the funds in three key areas.

“Destination Indigenous, we also want to invest in market development support, and Indigenous culinary tourism,” said Brenda Holder, ITAC board chair. “These are critical factors that will determine our growth.”

ITAC president and CEO Keith Henry said there are currently about 1,800 Indigenous businesses across Canada, and of those only about 130 are ready to meet the growing demand. Henry said places like British Columbia have been doing well at marketing their experiences.

“I would say that the Prairie Provinces, and Manitoba especially, offer tremendous opportunity for the future, but it’s going to take a strategy,” said Henry. “We’ve been working in Manitoba with the Manitoba Indigenous Tourism Advisory Committee, and it’s got support from the province there.”

Henry said these funds will help accelerate this work.

For Spence, he said he’s looking forward to sharing his culture on a larger scale.

“To be able to have people coming from not only all over Canada, and all over North America, but all over the world to come here and try our food. It really is amazing. It gives me goosebumps,” said Spence.

ITAC said $500,000 will be allotted this fiscal year, with the remaining $2 million to be invested in projects across Canada next year.