Tasting and Talk: Native Cuisines with Sean Sherman of the Sioux Chef

Join Chef Sean Sherman, founder of The Sioux Chef, for a discussion about Native American food cultures and ingredients. Based in the Great Lakes region, Sherman’s work has centered on pre-colonial indigenous foods and their intersections with modern culinary culture, Native health, and food sovereignty issues. His culinary explorations encompass traditions and ingredients from the southern tip of Chile to the uppermost regions of Canada. Sherman has extensively researched the foundations of indigenous food systems which include knowledge of Native American farming techniques, wild food usage and harvesting, land stewardship, salt and sugar making, hunting and fishing, food preservation, Native American migration histories, elemental cooking techniques, and Native culture and history at large. Los Angeles-based anthropologist and chef Claudia Serrato will moderate a Q&A session following Chef Sherman’s presentation. After the talk, we invite you to enjoy a drink and small bite by Manuela that will highlight Native ingredients. Copies of 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Awards nominee, ‘The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen,’ will be available for purchase at ARTBOOK on the day of the event. About Sean Sherman Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota, born in Pine Ridge South Dakota, has been cooking across the US and the world for the last 30 years. His culinary focus has been on revitalizing and raising awareness of indigenous food systems in a modern culinary context. In 2014, Sherman opened The Sioux Chef with the mission to help educate and make indigenous foods accessible to as many communities as possible. His first cookbook, ‘The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen’ was released last year by the University of Minnesota Press. In addition to plans for a Minneapolis-based restaurant, Sherman recently founded NATIFS, a nonprofit that plans to offer, among other services, culinary trainings and a research center for Native American food cultures. Chef Sherman’s vision of modern indigenous cuisines has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Native Peoples Magazine, Saveur, and on NPR. Sherman has cooked at the James Beard House in Manhattan and Milan, and he has been an invited lecturer and speaker at Yale University, the Culinary Institute of America, and the United Nations. About Claudia Serrato P’urépecha anthropologist and chef, Claudia Serrato has been an active member of the growing movement around indigenous foods for over a decade. She has cooked with many prominent and grassroots Indigenous chefs, including Sean Sherman, and consulted on Native American centered food initiatives. Serrato’s studies in anthropology inform her work on indigenous cooking, cuisine, and kitchen spaces across the United States. As a public scholar, Serrato speaks on the importance of returning to one’s cultural heritage cuisines. Her expertise in indigenous foodways has been featured on Feminist Magazine and Native America Calling.