The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley, 2017. University of Minnesota Press.
When I saw the cover of The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley, a well-known cookbook author, I just had to take a look inside. Just to see what’s behind the cover illustration which shows veneration for herbs and vegetation prepared as a beautiful feast! Inside, the book is very comely, with color photographs of prepared dishes, vegetables, or meats, Sean in the landscape, cooking or teaching, and indigenous ingredients that really look like your garden plants.
The book is organized into chapters that are titled to indicate where the food items come from. Note that brand names are not mentioned here: “Fields and Gardens”, “Prairies and Lakes”, “Nature’s Sweets, Teas, and Refreshing Drinks”, “The Indigenous Pantry” and “Feasts of the Moon”. Along with “Indigenous Partners and Guides”, the chapter “Feasts of the Moon” celebrate the diversity of native food, giving the reader and recipe devourer, a glimpse of festivities possible with food from local sources. Note also that while there are many meat or fish dishes, they occupy no more prominence than non-meat or fish recipes. All foods are cultured with an eye for additions of plants and fruits that play up their special tastes. Incorporating all edible plant life is what it’s about, too.
The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen is a James Beard Award winner for Best American Cookbook!
Sean Sherman is an Oglala Lakota chef and founder of “The Sioux Chef”, a restaurant with plans to open its brick-and-mortar location soon in South Minneapolis. See the website The Sioux Chef for a look at the plans. Also click on the link there for NATIFS, which stands for Native American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems.
Something deep within you resonates with Sean’s story, a Native son, who’s a free thinker and a highly creative American. Encountering an authentic story like this, I feel grateful because Sean Sherman’s life tale is inspiring on so many levels. It’s not just a statement like—“I’ve made it big and here is my story, yeah…” but rather—“Here’s my story so far, and I want to bring forward the traditions that make people thrive…” and he seems to want you to get involved on this food mission as well.
His deep commitment to native foods is something that chefs who also work in this area, kids who aspire to do something with a talent for cooking, and adults who are looking, but don’t know it yet, for a native food connection, will all meet with awe.
What you also might be excited to learn about is the love and care that such grassroots organizations as Sean’s The Sioux Chef has for the possibility of remaking a culture’s broken food system. For going natural, for eating local, for locavores and anyone who is just dying to savor meaningful, good, soul-satisfying food, The Sioux Chef embodies a beautiful promise.
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