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Sean Sherman Sioux Chef

Founder of The Sioux Chef company to speak at UW-River Falls March 7


February 25, 2022 - Sean Sherman, founder and chief executive officer of The Sioux Chef, will speak Monday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in the Falcon’s Nest in the University Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

The free and open to the public event is sponsored by the Student Involvement Office. Masks are required in university buildings.

Sherman, an author and chef, will speak on “The (R)evolution of Indigenous Food Systems of North America.” There will also be a Q&A with Sherman.

A member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, Sherman was born and raised in Pine Ridge, S.D. Cooking in kitchens across the U.S. and Mexico for 30 years, Sherman is a world-renowned chef in the culinary movement of indigenous food systems throughout North America. His extensive studies on the foundations of indigenous food systems have led him to showcase Native American cuisine.

In 2014, Sherman opened the business, The Sioux Chef, designed to provide catering and food education in the Twin Cities area. He and his business partner, Dana Thompson, designed and opened the Tatanka Truck, which features 100% pre-contact foods of the Dakota and Minnesota territories.

In October 2017, Sherman and his team presented the first decolonized dinner at the prestigious James Beard House in Manhattan. His first book, “The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen,” received the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook for 2018. It was chosen as one of the top ten cookbooks of 2017 by the L.A. Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Smithsonian magazine. That same year, Sherman was selected as a Bush Fellow and received the 2019 Leadership Award from the James Beard Foundation.

Sherman serves on the leadership committee of the James Beard Foundation Investment Fund for Black and Indigenous Americans and was recently awarded The Ashoka Fellowship. In July

2021, Sherman and Thompson opened Owamni by The Sioux Chef, 425 W. River Parkway, Minneapolis. It is Minnesota’s first full-service indigenous restaurant, featuring healthy Indigenous food and drinks.

The Sioux Chef team continues with its mission to help educate and make indigenous foods more accessible to as many communities as possible through the non-profit, North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems, at the Midtown Global Market, 920 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, and the accompanying Indigenous Food Lab, a professional indigenous kitchen and training center.

“Reclamation of ancestral education is a critical part of reversing the damage of colonialism and forced assimilation, and food is at the heart of this reclamation,” according to the NaTIFS website. “NāTIFS will drive sustainable economic empowerment and prosperity into tribal areas through a reimagined North American food system that also addresses the health impacts of injustice.”

Elise Peters, event and activities coordinator for the UWRF Student Involvement Office, said the event is part of the We Are Falcons Series that helps students learn about UWRF’s mission, vision and values. The university’s core values include being student-centered, academic excellence, inclusiveness, innovation, global engagement and integrity.

“I enjoy hearing from people I don’t hear from every day,” Peters said. “I can’t wait to hear his journey of decolonizing food.”

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