Join us for a conversation with Sean Sherman, chef, author and the co-founder of the nonprofit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) and its Indigenous Food Lab. In addition to all his many accolades, Sherman is the 2023 recipient of the Julia Child Award, recognizing those who have had an impact on the American culinary scene.
“Through his travels, Chef Sherman has had the opportunity to build deep connections with tribal communities, academic institutions, culinary leaders, and thought leaders from local to international. He’s witnessed the varying degrees of Indigenous food knowledge across many communities and has seen the need for change apparent everywhere. Through speaking engagements, community dinners, and culinary classes, along with social media and his James Beard Award-winning cookbook—The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen—he’s been able to influence many of these communities directly to affect change. Along with co-founding a restaurant in Minneapolis, Owamni, that focuses on Indigenous foods, Chef Sherman has seen the need for infrastructure to support Indigenous foodways across the United States, North America and the globe. His nonprofit, NATIFS, and its Indigenous Food Lab, a professional Indigenous Kitchen and Training Center, are working to build and support an Indigenous infrastructure, create a center for Indigenous Education, and promote the creation and maintenance of healthy food access throughout Indigenous communities.”
Mr. Sherman is a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe and will talk with JHC Board member Lori Fontanes about how incorporating authentic Indigenous recipes into our diets using native fruits, herbs and vegetables can provide both an education about our shared culinary heritage while also being more healthful and tasty. “Our ancestors understood how to live in balance with the natural world. Indigenous foods are the original foods of this continent. It’s important we recognize that and start celebrating those foods.”
Copies of his cookbook The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen will be available for signing. Register here.
