Sean Sherman is an activist and the chef at restaurant Owamni, Minneapolis. He is also an educator, an author and a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe. He was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and as a teenager began working in restaurants and also worked as a field surveyor for the forest service, where he gained knowledge of native plants. After moving to Minneapolis and working as an executive chef, he realized that none of the produce he used represented the land they were currently on, or what the people indigenous to the area ate. He found no Native American restaurants anywhere throughout most of North America and learned that traditional foodways had been almost entirely wiped off the map. Since then, he has dedicated his career to supporting and promoting indigenous food systems. His cooking is based on pre-colonial ingredients that are native to North America, like bison, hand-harvested wild rice, cedar, and sumac. He draws on the knowledge and culinary techniques of his ancestors to develop innovative, nutritious, and flavorful dishes. Through his activism and advocacy, he is helping to reclaim and celebrate the rich culinary heritage of Indigenous communities around the world.
