Guided by the organizing principle of the sacred circle or medicine wheel, this essay considers narratives of experience in confinement. Textual analysis of stories specifically concerned with food demonstrates the level of resistance and particular nature of survival strategies employed by First Nations and Nikkei women. The essay is autoethnographic in that the author illustrates certain effects of official projects of assimilation through her incorporation of autobiographical reflection and narrative poetry. In this way, scholarly engagement and cultural re-learning operate reflexively to demonstrate the transformation of culture.