COMIC: One Sioux chef's attempt to reclaim Native American cuisine

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This comedian, illustrated by Chelsea Saunders, is encouraged by an job interview with chef Sean Sherman from TED Radio Hour’s episode The Foodstuff Relationship.&#13

Panel 1: Sean Sherman: "I'm a part of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe, born and raised in Pine Ridge, S.D."

Panel 2: "Like a lot of people on the reservation, I grew up with the Commodity Food Program because we were poor. We just had these black-and-white cans of beef and juices. And that's dinner, you know, and that sucks."

Panel 3: "All throughout high school and college, I worked in a lot of touristy restaurants. After college, I moved to Minneapolis and became a chef at a young age. A few years into my chef career, I realized the complete absence of Indigenous foods. I could name less than a handful of Lakota recipes that were truly Lakota."

Panel 4: "What happened? Where were all the Native American foods at?"

Panel 5: "Traditionally, Indigenous education was thousands of generations of knowledge and tradition being handed down, family member to family member. It gave people a blueprint on how to live sustainably by utilizing plants and animals from their region.

Panel 6: "My great-grandfather saw his kids shipped to boarding school, where they were made to cut their hair, speak English and practice Christianity. By the end of the 19th century, less than 2% of original Lakota tribal land was under Indigenous control.

Panel 7: "In my quest to find Lakota recipes, I spoke to many people. Over time, I filtered out which ingredients were native and which were adopted later on. It was a long path of self-study because there was no "Joy of Native American Cooking" out there for me.

Panel 9: "After years of study, I started my company called the Sioux Chef in 2014. My goal is to get Indigenous food back into tribal communities and break the cycle of reliance on government food."

Panel 10: "If we can control our food, we can control our future. It's an exciting time to be Indigenous because we can use all of the teachings from our ancestors, and apply them to the modern world. this is an Indigenous evolution and revolution at the same time."

About Sean Sherman&#13

Chef Sean Sherman is the founder of “The Sioux Chef,” a corporation dedicated to revitalizing and reclaiming Native American cuisine. He is a member of the Ogalala Lakota Sioux tribe. His principal culinary aim has been on bringing indigenous foods systems like land stewardship and wild foods use to a fashionable culinary context.&#13

His cafe Owamni in Minneapolis, MN options dishes that prioritize Indigenous-sourced food items indigenous to his location, and leaves out colonial elements like beef and hen to produce a “decolonized dining knowledge.” In 2017, he co-authored the cookbook The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen area.&#13

As a result of his nonprofit NATIFS, he also co-started the Indigenous Food stuff Lab, a experienced Indigenous kitchen area and schooling middle dedicated to preserving Indigenous foods education and learning.&#13

He was the receiver of a 2015 1st Peoples Fund Fellowship, the 2018 Bush Basis Fellowship, the Nationwide Center’s 2018 Initial American Entrepreneurship Award, the 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook and a 2019 James Beard Management Award.&#13

This segment of TED Radio Hour was manufactured by Rachel Faulkner and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can adhere to us on Twitter @TEDRadioHour and e mail us at [email protected]. &#13

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