The REvolution of Indigenous Foods
[Applause]
hi there
my name is sean sherman i am a chef um
unfortunately i don’t have food for you
guys tonight
food for thought i guess maybe i’m here
to talk about native american food
i i was born and raised in pine ridge in
south dakota
and our focus are on indigenous foods
and you know it’s been a really
interesting journey so far
i started my company called the sous
chef s-i-o-u-x so a little play on words
back back in 2014 but it had come from
quite a few years of trying to research
and understand because
i kind of grew up in restaurants i grew
up in pine ridge i
um grew up in spearfish and in south
dakota in the black hills and i started
working a lot of touristy restaurants
and um you know i had just a long career
so all through high school and college i
worked restaurants after college i moved
to minneapolis
i became a chef at a really young age in
the city and i’ve just been chefing for
a long time and
a few years into my chef career i just
realized the complete absence of
indigenous foods and even for myself i
realized that
i couldn’t even name like a less i could
name less than a handful of lakota
recipes that were truly lakota you know
things without cream of mushroom soup in
it right
so i was really trying it was you know
put me on a path to try and understand
like what happened like where
are all the native american foods at you
know and um so it’s been really
interesting so
indigenous foods it shouldn’t be there
shouldn’t be a big question mark you
know it should
we should know about it because no
matter where we are in north america
we’re there you know north america
obviously begins all of its history
begins with indigenous history right
and no matter where we are we’re
standing on indigenous land
and so we should have a really good
strong sense of native american food
because it’s just the land that we’re on
it’s just the history of the land that
we’re on
um so for us it became more than just
serving foods it really became talking
about it and talking about why
it isn’t here and i think it’s a really
important story for us to know
and it’s also really important to see
the benefit of why understanding
indigenous foods could really help all
of us
in the future so you know but where are
all the native american restaurants we
live in a world today
you know where we have as the u.s were
like food capitals of the world right
we have um all the some of the best
restaurants in new york city
in chicago and l.a and zero indigenous
restaurants that are focused on the land
that they’re sitting on which is kind of
insane you know you can have every other
restaurant and indian restaurants don’t
count
you know because that was my only choice
on facebook was when i was trying to
decide uh how to
how to describe our restaurant and it’s
like is it indian or is it new american
or old american
but anyways um so what we’ve done is
like we try to focus on first off just
understanding what were pre-contact
foods pre-colonial foods
and i realized that that term didn’t
even really make a lot of sense to
people
so i think it’s really important to go
through the storyline because to
understand colonial
or what is a pre-colonial food you have
to understand colonialism itself right
and to understand colonialism the
easiest way
is just to google it so if you google
the word colonialism
you’ll get a definition it’s a policy or
practice of acquiring full or partial
political control
over another country occupying it with
settlers and exploiting it economically
and this is something that’s happened
not uniquely here it’s happened
all across the globe so all over all the
americas north and south
all over africa all over india all over
southeast asia australia new zealand
hawaii you name it
like this has been a very common history
for a lot of areas around the globe
for the us which is our focus because
we’re right here smack dab in the middle
of the united states
it’s really important to understand the
history because the u.s did a really
good job of kind of
you know smudging its history a little
bit so if you’re going through high
school the history they get on
indigenous peoples
probably isn’t the best history so you
really should read a little bit more
about what really happened um so let’s
just start with manifest destiny which
is
really kind of something that was born
from the idea of what was originally
doctrine of discovery which
basically gave european powers their own
rights to say if we discover it then we
own it right
but that policy doesn’t really work that
well because if you go into an apple
store
and you discover a brand new macbook
most likely you’re not gonna have the
rights to walk out the door with it
um but a lot of our policies and a lot
of our country like our country was
built on the
on this notion that we just have this
right to everything right
and people have to remember how young
our history is we’re such a young
country
you know there’s like barely any time
has passed so just
go back a couple hundred years and um
like this is start with
1800 so in 1800 the united states is
still not much more than just the 13
colonies at that point in history and
it’s the 1800s that are the most
um deadly hit century for indigenous
peoples
so a lot of really bad things happen
during this time period
and because in 1800 in reality almost
all of what is the u.s is still
completely occupied by indigenous
peoples and communities and a huge
diversity of them across the board
even despite european powers having big
land claims you know france has this big
section
and spain’s got big chunks and england
is hold on to chunks and
russia’s coming in and there’s all sorts
of like just big land grabs happening
but in reality it’s the indigenous
communities that have always been there
but this century is a mass century of
change you know
so during this time period things move
really fast
so this is just a really tough time and
for me like this is like my great
grandfather’s era because my great
grandfather was born in the late 1850s
and during his lifetime he sees so much
change so quickly
he sees so many battles between the
lakota and the u.s government
he sees uh the battle of little bighorn
when he’s 18 years old
during the battle for on the lakota side
he sees his kids having to go to
boarding school
cut their hair learn to speak english
learn christianity
he sees his uh children uh he sees
some of his children even grow up to
fight for the us government so such a
crazy
amount of change to see in one single
lifetime right
and during this time period like people
are getting pushed around at the
beginning of that
century over eighty percent of that land
mass was under under indigenous control
and by the end of the century less than
two percent only because of the
reservation systems
and this is all just part of the story
of why there aren’t native american
restaurants because
we just went through a really traumatic
time in history where we’re still
we haven’t even had the time to heal yet
um let alone evolve
right when it comes down to a list so
the us history
you know there’s a lot of these big
movements like the indian removal act of
1830
the homestead act of 1862 the indian
appropriation act of mart
of uh that basically said rewards of the
state that we’re not our own
entities anymore the das act of 1887
and all these pieces were very focused
and the government was really
really good at what they did you know
and it all starts with taking our food
away from us so the loss of indigenous
food is something that starts from the
very beginning
george washington his very first one of
his very first things that he does is
send general sullivan out
to push all the native people outside of
the u.s
he wanted them captured he wanted them
brought back
and they went on this march that lasts a
single summer and does just that so
after a single summer
there’s no more native people in all of
that new york area you know from dc
all the way up basically and they
named george washington the president
they gave the name for a u.s
president town destroyer which is still
the name that they use today
because uh he just devastated a whole
area
and this is how it said this is the
precedent that gets set um
for how the u.s government treats the
indigenous peoples throughout the next
century
basically so here in our area
the very um systematic destruction of
bison which they knew would hurt a lot
of people
and it did you know they killed like
there was over
there was like almost a billion animals
out there and by the end of the century
there was less than 500 on the planet
right and it was very purposeful so
but i think what’s most damaging for us
and why we don’t have a lot of
indigenous restaurants out there was the
loss of our education
because this whole generation like my
great-grandfather’s generation and my
grandfather’s generation
um especially like those generations
should have been getting the full extent
of indigenous education
they should have been learning
everything their ancestors intended them
to learn
you know how to fish how to hunt how to
gather how to identify plants how to
live
sustainably utilizing plants and animals
around us
but instead we went through a really
intense assimilation period
where we basically you know the boarding
school systems
stripped this whole generation of all
that knowledge and education
and it became very traumatic because
this was not a fun situation for these
kids to go through
this was a military style school and
they popped up all over the u.s
all over canada these kids being again
forced to speak different languages
forced to learn new religions
forced to learn skills that had nothing
to do with them and
being forced to is the situation you
know a lot of these kids perish
we shouldn’t have to worry about sending
kids to school to see if they’ll survive
or not
but this was a very harsh situation for
kids to go through and they went through
physical abuse
they went through sexual abuse they went
through mental abuse and we’re still
reeling from that in our communities
today because of this direct link to the
trauma that happened there and
being indigenous in the 1900s was a much
better my grandparents were born before
they were even citizens which doesn’t
happen until 1924
and then in the 40s and 60s u.s
government started
dismantling a lot of tribes so over 100
tribes got dismantled
so they could continue to take over more
land spaces we couldn’t vote
until this until 1965 we couldn’t
celebrate uh religions until 78
you know so what does it look like for
me growing up in this like i was born in
the mid 70s and
growing up in post-colonial america like
what kind of foods were i
was i eating and i get to ask that i’ll
ask that a lot because
people in the media are always like
you’re native like what kind of foods
you grow up with because they want to
hear a cool story like oh i’d get up in
the morning
take down an elk with a slingshot i made
have a big family feast you know
but that wasn’t the reality you know
cause like i grew up with the commodity
food program because we were poor like a
lot of people on the reservation
and it’s just the way it was and we
didn’t even have the pretty cans when i
was growing up we just had
you know uh the these like black and
white cans there’s beef and juices and
that’s dinner you know and that sucks
so and indian tacos you know like even
when i was a kid it’s like why do
why does our lakota food taste like
mexican food you know it didn’t even
make sense to me
at the time but like because we could do
better than this there’s so much better
there’s so much more to learn and more
to offer with indigenous foods
so i think it’s really important to
understand what indigenous foods are but
first you have to understand
just like how diverse our nation is like
we’re so diverse there’s all sorts of
plants and animals
out there and when you layer indigenous
peoples on it you can see so much
amazing diversity
you know this is a language map so just
look at all those huge color blocks
and within those color blocks there’s
all sorts of diversity within those two
right still today we have 634 tribes in
canada
573 in the u.s and 20 of mexico
identifies as indigenous
so there’s an immense amount of
indigeneity out there today and we
should be celebrating that diversity
because it’s awesome
you know just compares colonial settler
states to indigenous territories
and you can see that diversity so it
should change everywhere we go you know
the us
the food system shouldn’t just be
hamburgers across the board or in canada
it shouldn’t just be poutine you know we
could do so much better
describing our foods right and so we
have to really focus on indigenous
education because it’s important for us
to learn
so when we’re looking at indigenous
education it’s a study of all these
pieces
wild food permaculture native
agriculture seed savings seasonal
lifestyles ethno oceanography
hunting fishing whole animal butchery
mycology
salt sugar fat productions crafting land
stewardship cooking
metallurgy indigenous history
traditional medicines food preservation
fermentation nutrition health
spirituality gender role sustainability
all of that stuff is
this really important education that we
need to learn you know so let’s just
break down some foods real quick
like proteins are easy we learn about
how natives were able to use
every single part of a bison right but
that’s just because we didn’t have the
privilege to be wasteful we figured out
how to be resourceful with everything
that we had and we treated everything
like that right
but basically anything moving around is
literally game right
and we cut out beef pork and chicken
because those animals didn’t exist here
and there are other animals to eat out
there that aren’t those three
so there’s just a ton of stuff out there
and you shouldn’t be afraid of something
if it’s not
a cow a pig or a chicken you know
because there’s a lot of cool foods out
there
and even insects it’s like it’s so
normal in so many parts of the world and
it was normal here too
you know so but for us our biggest love
is plant knowledge because
you know you start to learn the plants
around us you just see food and medicine
everywhere the western diet has never
really taken the time
to learn this amazing biology that’s
around us and all these plants
all around us right because there’s just
so much to learn there’s all sorts of
staples out there like the
timpslow which is the prairie tournament
which grows around these plains
um kamas root from the pacific northwest
wild rice from the great lakes
even just seaweed out there in the
oceans you know which a lot of families
were utilizing or in the deserts where
all the plants look like they want to
hurt you or maim you
the indigenous peoples knew how to live
with them right um and another piece
like the domesticated piece
too with all the agriculture it’s really
important because you know we think of
this as agriculture
but we know how damaging this is you
know and it’s scary when you see
headlines like
what should we do if glyssophate was
found in our cheerios like you guys
should be really scared about that that
stuff’s really nasty you know
but it’s just amazing to learn about
indigenous agriculture because it goes
back so far and people figured out all
sorts of ways to farm
and be able to sustain huge
civilizations you know
whether they’re in the middle of the
desert whether they’re on the coastal
regions
or way up here in the dakotas you know
people will be able to farm amazing
things that had
an amazing amount of diversity that we
need to protect
we are the stewards of what’s left of
this diversity
and a lot of it got wiped off the map in
the 1800s with all that colonialism that
was going on
so we have to be understanding so we can
protect these for the next generation
because these could disappear
if we don’t do anything about it you
know so it’s really important to
understand that
so to use indigenous uh knowledge in
today’s world
it’s just important to open up your eyes
you know stop calling everything a weed
because that just means you don’t know
what it is
right you know our kids can name more
kpop bands than they can
trees and that’s your fault you know you
need to teach them things that it’s
important right
because like just look around there’s
food everywhere
and we should be making pantries like
our grandparents did our great
grandparents you know they just used the
food that was around us right
so we should just like be making our own
pantries that taste like where we are
what makes us unique in
our own region and that’s why we should
have native american food
restaurants all over the nation and run
by indigenous peoples right
there’s so much to explore there’s so
much flavor there’s so much health and
it’s just
super healthy you know and it’s fun for
chefs to create and play with all these
flavors chefs should be really excited
about just getting to learn all these
plants that aren’t in their
diet because they’re just going off of a
french cookbook right
and for us we just want to get this food
back into tribal communities especially
and make people
healthy and happy and break a lot of the
cycle of
you know government reliance on food and
huge rates of type 2 diabetes and
obesity and heart disease because of
this
low nutritional food base that the
government’s been feeding us for too
long
you know and we just need to think about
how we can adjust and make a better
lifestyle like we need to use
our land spaces better right lawns are
stupid right we need to really
do something better we could just be
growing food out there
you know we could just be putting food
plants everywhere we need more community
gardens
more permacultural landscapes it’s that
easy if we can grow
30 golf courses in palm springs in the
middle of the desert
just think what we could do if we just
did that for good and just put food
everywhere you know and organic food and
food that wants to grow in that certain
region
so you know because you know indigenous
diet is really kind of most
the most ideal diet it’s healthy fats
it’s diverse proteins it’s low carbs
it’s low salt
it’s a ton of plant diversity it’s
organic agriculture
it’s a celebrating cultural and regional
diversity
and it’s seasonal you know it’s just
really good it’s like what the paleo
diet wishes it was
really when it comes down to it like
because it just makes sense you know
and we need to protect this we need to
get this out there and again it’s not
unique here
there’s indigenous peoples all around
the world and there’s an indigenous
knowledge base that’s
basically untapped because of the
colonial structure that’s been
put everywhere right we need to be
protecting people in africa
and india and southeast asia and
australia new zealand hawaii
south america north america we need to
protect those we need to be celebrating
diversity instead of trying to build
stupid walls to keep people
out right we need to have you know
healthy food access cultural food
producers regional food systems
local control of food systems not
governmental control
access to indigenous education and
environmental protections to protect
a lot of this natural food that’s around
us we need to be better connected to our
nature
around us and really truly understand
how we’re it’s a symbiotic relationship
you know we’re not above it
right if we can control our food we can
control our future
and for us it’s an exciting time to be
indigenous because
we are taking all of these lessons from
our ancestors that should have been
passed down to us
relearning them and utilizing the world
today with everything it has to offer
and becoming something different
we get this stage where we’re ready to
evolve you know this is an indigenous
evolution and revolution at the same
time
so i hope someday that you can drive
across this nation
stop at indigenous run food businesses
and then see this amazing amount of
diversity out there
and just think about it you know
[Applause]