The Sioux Chef

Sean Sherman Portrait

Sean Sherman

Cooking in the Indigenous Tradition

by Kaila Basile '20

Native American chef and educator Sean Sherman will serve an indigenous-inspired meal at the Dickinson College Farm’s pop-up restaurant and present a special lecture on the history of indigenous food systems in North America during his visit to the college the first weekend of November.

Sherman will present “The Evolution of Indigenous Food Systems of North America” on Friday, Nov. 3, at 4:30 p.m. in the Stern Center Great Room. The event will include a Native American food tasting. A book sale and signing will follow the presentation. It is free and open to the public.

Sherman, who is Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, will share his findings on the foundations of Native American food systems including farming and harvesting techniques, wild food usage, hunting, fishing and preservation. Sherman founded catering and food education company The Sioux Chef in 2014 to make Native American foods more accessible to the public. The cookbook he co-authored, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, features foods of the Dakota and Minnesota territories. The Sioux Chef has catered dinners at the James Beard Foundation in Milan and the Slow Foods Indigenous Terra Madre in India. Sherman and The Sioux Chef have been featured in various articles by news outlets such as The New York Times, NPR and Native People’s Magazine.

The lecture is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Office of Dean & Provost – Neil Weissman, the Center for Sustainability Education, the departments of American studies, environmental studies, anthropology, archaeology and the food studies program.

Sherman will also join Dickinson College Farm student farmers to create a unique culinary experience at the farm’s monthly pop-up restaurant, GATHER, on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. in the Stern Center Great Room. Dinner is $20 for Dickinson students and $35 for non-students. Reservations are required. Guests will be treated to a creative four-course menu of fresh, high-quality seasonal ingredients that folds indigenous food systems into a modern culinary context. Sherman’s culinary background also includes running the Tatanka Truck, a Native American food truck, in partnership with Dana Thompson and the Little Earth Community of United Tribes in Minneapolis.

Learn more

Published November 1, 2017