Turtle Island

**Uncover the stories behind the foods that have linked the natural environments, traditions, and histories of Indigenous peoples across North America for millennia through more than 150 ancestral and modern recipes from three-time James Beard Award–winning Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman.

**Growing up on South Dakota&rsquo;s Pine Ridge Reservation, Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman understood that his people&rsquo;s food was rich in flavor, heritage, and connection to the land. It was in the midst of a successful restaurant career mainly cooking European cuisines that he realized the lack of understanding about Native American foodways&mdash;a revelation that sent him on a journey to learn more about how Indigenous communities have preserved and evolved their cuisines through the centuries. Now a leading figure in the Indigenous food movement, he shares in <Turtle Island< the unique and diverse Native foodways of North America through both traditional and modern recipes made with ingredients that have nourished Indigenous peoples physically, spiritually, and culturally for generations.

Organized by region, this book delves into the rich culinary landscapes of Turtle Island&mdash;as many Indigenous cultures call this continent. Learn to eat with the seasons, consume meat and fish nose-to-tail, focus on plant-forward dishes, and discover how to better feed yourself. Alongside delicious recipes like Smoked Bison Ribeye, Wild-Rice Crusted Walleye Cakes, Charred Rainbow Trout with Grilled Ramps, Sweet Potato Soup with Dried Venison and Chile Oil, Sunflower Seed &ldquo;Risotto,&rdquo; and Sweet Corn Pudding with Woodland Berry Sauce (and so much more), you&rsquo;ll see the inspiring Indigenous food scene through Sean&rsquo;s eyes.

Exemplifying how Native foodways can teach us all to connect with the natural world around us, <Turtle Island <features rich narrative histories and spotlights the communities producing, gathering, and cooking these foods, including remarkable stories of ingenuity and adaptation that capture the resilience of Indigenous communities....

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Sean Sherman with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly

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**NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Uncover the stories behind the foods that have linked the natural environments, traditions, and histories of Indigenous peoples across North America for millennia through more than 100 ancestral and modern recipes from three-time James Beard Award–winning Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman.

“I’ve been completely seduced by Sean Sherman’s new book. This is so much more than enticing recipes and gorgeous photos.”—Robin Wall Kimmerer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry

“A collection of the stories that tell deeper truths about our country and the people who have always been here.”—José Andrés, chef and founder of World Central Kitchen

A BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE, LIBRARY JOURNAL

**Growing up on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation, Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman understood that his people’s food was rich in flavor, heritage, and connection to the land. It was in the midst of a successful restaurant career mainly cooking European cuisines that he realized the lack of understanding about Native American foodways—a revelation that sent him on a journey to learn more about how Indigenous communities have preserved and evolved their cuisines through the centuries. Now a leading figure in the Indigenous food movement, he shares in Turtle Island the unique and diverse Native foodways of North America through both traditional and modern recipes made with ingredients that have nourished Indigenous peoples physically, spiritually, and culturally for generations.

Organized by region, this book delves into the rich culinary landscapes of Turtle Island—as many Indigenous cultures call this continent. Learn to eat with the seasons, consume meat and fish nose-to-tail, focus on plant-forward dishes, and discover how to better feed yourself. Alongside delicious recipes like Smoked Bison Ribeye, Wild-Rice Crusted Walleye Cakes, Charred Rainbow Trout with Grilled Ramps, Sweet Potato Soup with Dried Venison and Chile Oil, Sunflower Seed “Risotto,” and Sweet Corn Pudding with Woodland Berry Sauce (and so much more), you’ll see the inspiring Indigenous food scene through Sean’s eyes.

Exemplifying how Native foodways can teach us all to connect with the natural world around us, Turtle Island features rich narrative histories and spotlights the communities producing, gathering, and cooking these foods, including remarkable stories of ingenuity and adaptation that capture the resilience of Indigenous communities.

Leseprobe
Introduction

“You are on native land.” Walking into the entrance of my restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota, you’re welcomed with a glowing red neon sign with those words. Inside the restaurant, you’re drawn to the beautiful view of the Mississippi River, the location of a once-mighty waterfall that in the Dakota language was called Owamniyomni, roughly translating to “place of the falling swirling waters.” The waterfall is long gone, replaced by concrete skirting and a lock and dam, but the importance of the location still holds for those who know the history.

We named the restaurant Owamni to take back the original namesake of this special place, which has held significance for the Dakota community for centuries, long before the arrival of European colonists in the early 1800s. This restaurant was years in the making, and we couldn’t be prouder of creating something that not only showcases culturally important foods from Indigenous producers but also normalizes these health-sustaining foods. That was the early driving force behind my work—to help address the health issues plaguing our tribal communities, including high rates of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. I realized we needed to return to a diet of the nourishing foods we ate before contact, which helped solidify my philosophy on decolonized cuisine. Reflecting that credo, our menu at Owamni is totally devoid of Eurocentric ingredients, such as dairy, wheat, cane sugar, beef, pork, and chicken. Eliminating these elements introduced during colonialism also meant that we would highlight the amazing and diverse Native foods of North America, and encourage guests to embrace their beauty as well.

But we aren’t cooking like it’s 1491. With dishes like cedar-braised duck tacos, antelope tartare with aronia berries, grilled sweet potatoes with maple chili crisp, and wild foraged teas, our team serves up delicious, nutritious, modern Indigenous food, proving to the world that it’s possible to run a successful restaurant without soda and ranch dressing. I’ve been told time and again how ambitious and innovative this mission is in the American restaurant world, but in my mind, we’re just doing what Indigenous peoples the world over have been doing since time immemorial.

When I look back on the journey that got me here, I understand I was always on this path. It just took me time in life to realize it. I was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and am an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota. When I was young, running wild across the grasslands with my sister and cousins, we had so much freedom. Like most kids in the ’80s, we had sparse parental supervision and were often left to our own mischief. I remember walking along miles of barbed-wire fence lines, dogs at our sides, darting redwing blackbirds on the fence posts. The occasional curlew fl…