Indigenous Chef Sean Sherman Wins Prestigious Food Award

“Sioux Chef” Sean Sherman

Published March 24, 2019

WASHINGTON — The James Beard Foundation (JBF) announced last Tuesday Sean Sherman, a tribal citizen of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe, will receive a Leadership Award for his work in helping American Indians reclaim historic food and agricultural systems.

Sherman is founder and CEO of The Sioux Chef. Sherman focuses on the revitalization and awareness of indigenous foods systems in a modern culinary context, a mission which led him to create the company The Sioux Chef in 2014.  Sherman has studied extensively to determine the foundations of these food systems which include the knowledge of Native American farming techniques, wild food usage and harvesting, land stewardship, food preservation, regional diversity, Native American migrational histories, along with indigenous culture and history in general to gain a full understanding of bringing back a sense of Native American cuisine to today’s world. In 2018, Sean co-founded the nonprofit NATIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems), which this year is in the process of opening a not for profit indigenous restaurant and training center called Indigenous Food Lab.

His vision is to open Indigenous Food Lab’s in cities across North America with the focus of helping regional indigenous communities to develop healthy community based indigenous food businesses, to help bring much needed economic opportunities, influence healthy culturally appropriate diets, and re-identifying true cuisines of the Americas. In 2018, his book The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen won the James Beard Award for best book in the American category.