TURTLE ISLAND - Sean Sherman

Join us for a celebration of Sean Sherman's Turtle Island! by Sean Sherman!

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.

SEAN SHERMAN, Oglala Lakota, born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, has been cooking across the United States and world for the past thirty years. His main culinary focus has been the revitalization and awareness of Indigenous foods systems in a modern culinary context. In 2014, he opened The Sioux Chef as a caterer and food educator in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area. His first book, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, was published in 2017. His restaurant Owamni opened in 2021, and was honored on many Best New Restaurant lists, winning the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2022.

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