Sean Sherman
Sean Sherman (born 1974)[1] is an Oglala Lakota Sioux chef, cookbook author, forager, and promoter of indigenous cuisine.[2][3] Sherman founded the indigenous food education business and caterer The Sioux Chef and cofounded with then-partner Dana Thompson the nonprofit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NĀTIFS). He received a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award and his 2017 cookbook, The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, won the 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook. In 2022 the restaurant he co-owned with Thompson, Owamni, won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant.
Sean Sherman | |
|---|---|
Sherman in 2021 | |
| Born | 1974 (age 48–49)[1] |
| Education | Black Hills State University |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | Indigenous cuisine |
Current restaurant(s) | |
Award(s) won
| |
| Website | seansherman |
Early life Edit
Sherman was born in 1974 and grew up on his grandparents' ranch on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.[4]: 1 [5] He hunted and foraged from an early age, recalling his grandfather giving him a shotgun on his seventh birthday.[4]: 77 [6] He grew up eating many government commodity foods[6] such as cereal, shortening, and canned hash, which he cites as the norm he seeks to depart from.[7] He attended Black Hills State University.[8] His grandparents were fluent in Lakota.[4]: 1
Early career Edit
Sherman got his first restaurant job washing dishes at 13, soon moving onto the line.[7] He spent a summer working for the US Forest Service in the Black Hills, identifying plants.[9][10] He spent most of his twenties working in a series of Minneapolis restaurants[11] and by 27 was working as an executive chef.[12] By 29 he was burnt out and spent some time in Mexico regrouping; while in Puerto Vallarta he spent time with some Huichol people and had an "epiphany", saying: "After seeing how the Huicholes held onto so much of their pre-European culture through artwork and food, I recognized I wanted to know my own food heritage. What did my ancestors eat before the Europeans arrived on our lands?”[11]
Career Edit
In 2014 Sherman founded indigenous food education business and caterer The Sioux Chef. The Washington Post called it "a homonym to another... culinary concept",[2] the sous-chef. In 2015, he and partner Dana Thompson launched Tatanka Truck, a food truck that offered such dishes as bison wild rice and teas made from cedar and maple.[13]
He founded the nonprofit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NĀTIFS) in 2017 with Thompson.[6][10]
In 2017 Sherman co-authored The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, published by the University of Minnesota,[6] which won the 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook.[14] In order to create the book's recipes, he interviewed older community members and searched archives for descriptions of traditional Lakota foods.[5] Recipes in the book contain no dairy, wheat, beef, pork, or cane sugar, as these are non-indigenous ingredients, brought to North America by European colonizers.[5][14] Sherman describes the recipes as "hyperlocal, ultraseasonal, uber-healthy [and] most of all, it's utterly delicious."[5] Publishers Weekly called the book, "an illuminating guide to Native American food that will enthrall home cooks and food historians alike."[15] That same year he prepared a six-course dinner at the James Beard House.[2]
In 2018 he participated in a National Museum of American History roundtable at the Food History weekend event.[5] During the event he prepared a traditional dish, Mag˘áksic˘a na Psíŋ Wasná, duck and wild rice pemmican.[5]
In 2019 Sherman received a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award, which recognizes people and organizations that "(work) to change our food world for the better."[16]
In 2021 he and Thompson opened a restaurant, Owamni, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving dishes using ingredients present in North America before European colonization. Owamni won the 2022 James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant.[17]
The New York Times called his style "colorful and elegant".[7]
Sherman was named to the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2023 list.[18]
Philosophy Edit
Sherman abandoned the use of ingredients that are not endemic to North America[19] after having "an epiphany" while working at a restaurant in Mexico that used local ingredients[20] and realizing that the traditional foods of the Oglala were "completely unrepresented in American cuisine."[21] He objects to indigenous cuisine being called "the next big thing", saying, "This is not a trend. It's a way of life."[2] He told the James Beard Foundation, "We're not trying to cook like it's 1491. We're trying to take knowledge from the past and evolve it for today."[12]
Along with some other Native American chefs,[2] Sherman rejects frybread, often associated with "traditional" Native American cuisine, calling it "everything that isn't Native American food"[22] and writing that it represents "perseverance and pain, ingenuity and resilience."[4]: 9 While a symbol of resilience,[2] as it was developed out of necessity using government-provided flour, sugar, and lard, these chefs also consider it a symbol of colonial oppression,[2] as the ingredients were being provided because the government had moved the people onto land that could not support growing traditional staples like corn and beans.[23][24] Frybread's significance to Native Americans has been described as complicated[23] and their relationship with it conflicted.[25]
Personal life Edit
Sherman lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[6] He has one son.[26] He and Thompson had a difficult romantic breakup shortly after Owamni opened; as of 2022 the two retain shared control of the business.[17]
Awards Edit
- 2018 James Beard Best American Cookbook[14]
- 2019 James Beard Leadership Award[16]
- 2022 James Beard Best New Restaurant[17]
- 2023 Julia Child Award[27]
Books Edit
See also Edit
References Edit
- ^ a b "Minnesota chef, indigenous food champion, to showcase his passion here". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Judkis, Maura (November 22, 2017). "'This is not a trend': Native American chefs resist the 'Columbusing' of indigenous foods". Washington Post. from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ Figueroa, Francisca (September 13, 2018). "Revitalizing Indigenous Cuisine". Edible Communities. from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Sean Sherman; Beth Dooley (2017). The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-9979-7. from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f Young, PhD, Ashley Rose (December 17, 2018). ""Hyperlocal, ultraseasonal, uber-healthy, and utterly delicious": Reviving indigenous food cultures". National Museum of American History. from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f Walhout, Hannah (October 2, 2017). "Sean Sherman on Decolonizing the American Diet". Food & Wine. from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ a b c Rao, Tejal (August 16, 2016). "The Movement to Define Native American Cuisine". The New York Times. from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ Al-Sulaiman, Salma (2018). "Decolonizing Our Diet: Sioux Chef". www.culturalsurvival.org. from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ Dean, Lee Svitak (October 7, 2017). "'Sioux Chef' serves up indigenous foods: 'It's what paleo wants to be'". Star Tribune. from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ a b Treuer, David (September 9, 2016). "The Sioux Chef Spreading the Gospel of America's First Food". SAVEUR. from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ a b Forbes, Paula (November 29, 2017). "A Look Inside the Cookbook Redefining Native American Cuisine". Food52. from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ a b "2019 Leadership Award Winner Sean Sherman | James Beard Foundation". James Beard Foundation. from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ Rickert-Bolter, Monica (November 29, 2017). "The Sioux Chef: Reinvigorating Indigenous Food Systems". Field Museum of Natural History. from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ a b c "The Sioux Chef". www.cbsnews.com. November 18, 2018. from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ a b "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen". www.publishersweekly.com. October 2017. from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ a b March, Stephanie (May 6, 2019). "The Sioux Chef's Sean Sherman Honored by James Beard Foundation". Mpls.St.Paul Magazine. from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
- ^ a b c Kormann, Carolyn (September 12, 2022). "How Owamni Became the Best New Restaurant in the United States". The New Yorker. from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ "Sean Sherman: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023". Time. April 13, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
- ^ Moya-Smith, Simon (April 6, 2019). "Native Americans are reclaiming fry bread, the food of our oppression". NBC News. from the original on June 17, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ Cosier, Susan (September 22, 2017). "The "Sioux Chef" Shares His Roots (and the Midwest's, Too)". National Resources Defense Council. from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ Twilley, Nicola; Graber, Cynthia (November 2016). "The 'Sioux Chef' Reviving Native American Cuisine". The Atlantic. from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ Lam, Francis (November 3, 2017). "Exploring indigenous kitchens of North America with Sean Sherman". www.splendidtable.org. from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ a b Miller, Jen (2008). "Frybread". Smithsonian. from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ d'Errico, Peter (July 13, 2017). "(Not) Fry Bread: The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen". IndianCountryToday.com. from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ Rupp, Rebecca (November 23, 2016). "Native American Cuisine Returns to Its Roots". National Geographic. from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ Armitage, Lynn (September 1, 2016). "Sioux Chef Has a Plan: Introduce Traditional Native Cuisine One Region at a Time". IndianCountryToday.com. from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
- ^ Jackson, Sharyn (June 14, 2023). "Owamni chef and co-founder Sean Sherman wins Julia Child Award — and $50,000". Star Tribune. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
External links Edit
- Official website