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]