Sean Sherman: Why aren't there more Native American restaurants? | TED

Summary

Sean Sherman, a chef from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, discusses the importance of Native American food and the absence of Indigenous cuisine in modern society. He shares his journey of rediscovering precolonial foods and the impact of colonialism on Indigenous diets, advocating for a return to traditional, diverse, and sustainable Indigenous foods as a means to improve health and reconnect with the land.

Takeaways

• 🍴 Sean Sherman is a chef who founded The Sioux Chef in 2014 to focus on Native American food and educate others about Indigenous cuisine.
• 🌱 Sherman grew up in South Dakota and had a long career in restaurants, which led him to realize the absence of Indigenous foods in contemporary cuisine.
• 🔍 He embarked on a journey to understand what happened to Native American foods, which were largely erased due to colonization and the subsequent loss of Indigenous knowledge and practices.
• 🏠 Sherman emphasizes the importance of knowing and respecting the Indigenous history of the land, as North America's history begins with Indigenous peoples.
• 🍽 The lack of Native American restaurants in the US, despite the country's rich food culture, highlights the need to recognize and revive Indigenous food traditions.
• 📚 Understanding the history of colonialism is crucial to comprehend the erasure of Indigenous foods and the impact it had on Indigenous communities.
• 🏞️ The destruction of Indigenous food systems began with policies like the Indian Removal Act and the Dawes Act, which aimed to assimilate Indigenous peoples and take away their land and resources.
• 🐃 The systematic destruction of the bison population is an example of how the US government targeted the food sources of Indigenous peoples to weaken their communities.
• 🏫 The boarding school system was a tool of assimilation that stripped Indigenous children of their cultural knowledge, including food practices and plant identification.
• 🌾 Indigenous agriculture and knowledge of local plants and animals are essential to rebuilding a connection with the land and promoting health and sustainability.
• 🌍 Sherman calls for a global recognition and celebration of Indigenous knowledge and practices, which are vital for environmental protection and cultural diversity.

Q & A

Who is Sean Sherman and what is his profession?

Sean Sherman is a chef who focuses on Native American food and is the founder of The Sioux Chef, a company established in 2014.

What is the significance of the term 'The Sioux Chef'?

The term 'The Sioux Chef' is a play on words, representing Sean Sherman's Sioux heritage and his professional role as a chef.

Why did Sean Sherman start his journey into Native American food?

Sean Sherman started his journey into Native American food after realizing the absence of Indigenous foods in his career as a chef and not being able to name many authentic Lakota recipes.

What does Sean Sherman believe is the importance of understanding Indigenous foods?

Sean Sherman believes that understanding Indigenous foods is important because it is tied to the history and land of North America, and it could benefit everyone in the future.

Why are there no Native American restaurants focused on the land they are on, according to Sean Sherman?

According to Sean Sherman, there are no Native American restaurants focused on the land they are on because of historical trauma and the lack of time for Indigenous communities to heal and evolve in the food industry.

What does Sean Sherman suggest is the first step in understanding Indigenous foods?

The first step in understanding Indigenous foods, according to Sean Sherman, is understanding what precontact or precolonial foods were, which requires understanding colonialism itself.

What historical policy did Sean Sherman mention that impacted Indigenous peoples in the United States?

Sean Sherman mentioned the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Homestead Act of 1862, and the Dawes Act of 1887 as historical policies that impacted Indigenous peoples in the United States.

How did the boarding school system affect the传承 of Indigenous knowledge and food practices?

The boarding school system stripped a whole generation of Indigenous knowledge and food practices through intense assimilation, forcing children to abandon their traditional ways and learn new, unrelated skills.

What is the significance of the term 'Indigenous education' in Sean Sherman's talk?

In Sean Sherman's talk, 'Indigenous education' refers to a comprehensive study of traditional practices including wild food knowledge, native agriculture, seed saving, and other cultural and environmental aspects that are crucial for preserving Indigenous heritage.

What are some examples of Indigenous foods that Sean Sherman mentioned?

Examples of Indigenous foods mentioned by Sean Sherman include prairie turnips, camas root, wild rice, and seaweed, emphasizing the diversity and health benefits of these traditional foods.

What is Sean Sherman's vision for the future of Indigenous foods in America?

Sean Sherman's vision is for Indigenous foods to be celebrated and integrated into mainstream diets, with Native American food restaurants run by Indigenous peoples across the nation, promoting health, diversity, and a connection to the land.

Outlines

00:00

🍴 Introduction to Native American Cuisine

Sean Sherman, a chef hailing from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, introduces himself and his mission to revive and promote Native American food. He discusses the founding of his company, The Sioux Chef, in 2014, after years of research into Indigenous foods, which he noticed were largely absent from contemporary cuisine. Raised in restaurants and becoming a chef in Minneapolis, Sherman's realization of the lack of Indigenous representation in food led him on a journey to understand and share the rich history and culinary practices of Native American communities.

05:03

🏞️ The Impact of Colonialism on Indigenous Food

This paragraph delves into the history of colonialism and its devastating effects on Indigenous peoples and their food systems in the United States. Sherman explains how policies like the Indian Removal Act and the Dawes Act contributed to the displacement and assimilation of Indigenous communities, leading to the loss of their traditional foods and knowledge. The systematic destruction of the bison population and the boarding school system, which stripped Indigenous children of their cultural heritage, are highlighted as key factors in the erosion of Native American food practices. The paragraph underscores the need to understand this history to appreciate the significance of reviving Indigenous foods today.

10:05

🌱 Indigenous Foods and the Importance of Education

Sean Sherman emphasizes the importance of Indigenous education in understanding and preserving traditional foods. He discusses the diversity of Indigenous nations and the variety of plants and animals that were utilized in their diets, which were far more extensive than the limited range of proteins typically associated with Western diets. Sherman advocates for a comprehensive education that includes knowledge of wild foods, native agriculture, and sustainable living practices. He also touches on the importance of relearning and valuing the use of every part of an animal, as well as the significance of plant knowledge in Indigenous cultures.

15:06

🌾 Indigenous Agriculture and the Future of Food

In this paragraph, Sherman discusses the history and practices of Indigenous agriculture, which were sustainable and diverse, contrasting with the damaging effects of modern agricultural practices. He calls for a reconnection with the land and the promotion of Indigenous diets, which are healthy and diverse, as a means to improve health and reduce reliance on government food programs. Sherman envisions a future where Indigenous-run food businesses are widespread, offering a wealth of flavors and contributing to the health and well-being of communities. He concludes by advocating for environmental protections and local control of food systems to ensure the preservation of Indigenous knowledge and food diversity.

Keywords

💡Native American Food

Native American Food refers to the traditional cuisine of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is integral to the video's theme as it represents the heritage and history of Indigenous cultures that have been largely overlooked or forgotten. The script discusses the absence of Native American foods in modern cuisine and the importance of reviving and understanding these traditional foods as part of a broader cultural and historical awareness.

💡Indigenous Foods

Indigenous Foods are those that were traditionally consumed by the native populations of a particular region before the arrival of colonial influences. The video emphasizes the significance of Indigenous foods as a means to connect with the land and history, and as a counterpoint to the homogenization of global food culture. Sean Sherman's journey to understand and promote Indigenous foods is a central narrative of the video.

💡Colonialism

Colonialism is defined in the script as the policy or practice of acquiring political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. It is a key concept in the video as it explains the historical context that led to the suppression and near-eradication of Indigenous food cultures. The script uses colonialism to illustrate the systematic destruction of Indigenous ways of life, including their food systems.

💡The Sioux Chef

The Sioux Chef is the name of Sean Sherman's company, which is dedicated to the revitalization and promotion of Native American food systems. It is a play on words that reflects the company's mission to educate and inspire through the lens of Indigenous cuisine. The script mentions this as the platform from which Sean shares his research and culinary creations.

💡Precontact Foods

Precontact Foods refers to the types of food that were consumed by Indigenous peoples before the arrival of European colonizers. The script discusses the importance of understanding precontact foods as a way to reconnect with Indigenous history and culture. It also highlights the challenge of defining and identifying these foods due to the extensive impact of colonialism.

💡Indigenous Education

Indigenous Education in the context of the video refers to the learning and传承 of traditional knowledge, skills, and practices of Indigenous peoples, including agriculture, food preservation, and ecological understanding. The script argues that Indigenous education is crucial for preserving cultural heritage and for the health and well-being of Indigenous communities.

💡Cultural Diversity

Cultural Diversity is the variety of cultural expressions, traditions, and ways of life found within and among communities. The video emphasizes the richness of cultural diversity, particularly in relation to food, as a means to celebrate and honor the unique histories and contributions of Indigenous peoples. It contrasts the homogeneity of mainstream food culture with the potential richness of Indigenous food systems.

💡Assimilation

Assimilation, as discussed in the script, refers to the forced integration of minority groups into the dominant culture, often at the expense of their own cultural identity. The video describes how assimilation policies, such as boarding schools, stripped Indigenous communities of their traditional knowledge and practices, including their foodways.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability in the video is associated with the traditional practices of Indigenous peoples that allowed them to live in harmony with nature, utilizing resources without depleting them. It is contrasted with modern agricultural practices that are often damaging to the environment. The script promotes the idea of returning to these sustainable practices as a way to protect the environment and promote health.

💡Food Sovereignty

Food Sovereignty is the right of communities to define their own food systems and food security. The script touches on the importance of food sovereignty for Indigenous communities, suggesting that control over their food systems is key to cultural preservation, health, and self-determination.

💡Indigenous Evolution

Indigenous Evolution, as mentioned in the script, refers to the process of relearning and adapting traditional knowledge and practices to the contemporary world. It is part of a broader revolution that seeks to revitalize Indigenous cultures, including their food systems, and to challenge the dominant narratives and structures that have marginalized them.

Highlights

Sean Sherman, a chef, discusses the importance of Native American food and his journey to understand and promote it.

Founded The Sioux Chef in 2014 to focus on Indigenous foods, after realizing the absence of such cuisine in his early career.

Grew up in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and worked in restaurants, which sparked his interest in Native American cuisine.

The lack of Indigenous recipes in contemporary cuisine led Sherman to research precontact and precolonial foods.

Indigenous foods are integral to North America's history and should be recognized and celebrated.

The absence of Native American restaurants in major U.S. cities despite the diversity of food cultures.

The impact of colonialism on Indigenous peoples and the loss of their traditional foods and knowledge.

The U.S. government's historical policies that led to the suppression of Indigenous cultures and foods.

The trauma inflicted on Indigenous communities through forced assimilation and the boarding school system.

Sherman's personal experience growing up with limited access to traditional Indigenous foods due to poverty and government policies.

The diversity of Indigenous nations and the importance of celebrating this diversity through food.

Indigenous education as a key component to understanding and preserving traditional foods and practices.

The sustainable and health benefits of Indigenous diets, which are rich in plant diversity and low in processed foods.

The need for a shift in perspective to value and utilize Indigenous knowledge in modern food systems.

Sherman's vision for a future where Indigenous-run food businesses are common and celebrated across the nation.

The potential of Indigenous foods to improve health outcomes and reduce reliance on government food programs.

The importance of land stewardship and the cultivation of regional food systems for a sustainable future.

Transcripts

Transcriber:

Hi there, my name is Sean Sherman,

I am a chef.

Unfortunately, I don't have food for you guys tonight.

Food for thought, I guess, maybe.

I'm here to talk about Native American food.

I was born and raised in Pine Ridge in South Dakota,

and our focus are on Indigenous foods.

And, you know, it's been a really interesting journey so far.

I started my company called The Sioux Chef --

S-I-O-U-X, a little play on words --

back in 2014.

But it had come from quite a few years of trying to research and understand

because I kind of grew up in restaurants.

I grew up in Pine Ridge.

I grew up in Spearfish and in South Dakota in the Black Hills.

And I started working a lot of touristy restaurants.

And, you know, I had just a long career.

All through high school and college, I worked restaurants.

After college, I moved to Minneapolis.

I became a chef at a young age in the city.

And I'd just been cheffing for a long time.

And a few years into my chef career,

I realized the complete absence of Indigenous foods.

And even for myself, I realized that I couldn't even name --

I could name less than a handful of Lakota recipes that were truly Lakota,

things without cream of mushroom soup in it, right?

(Laughter)

So I was really trying --

It, you know, put me on a path to try and understand what happened,

like where are all the Native American foods at, you know?

And so it's been really interesting.

So Indigenous foods, that shouldn't be --

there shouldn't be a big question mark, you know,

we should know about it,

because no matter where we are in North America, we're --

you know, North America obviously begins,

all of its history begins with Indigenous history, right?

And no matter where we are, we're standing on indigenous land.

And so we should have a really good, strong sense of Native American food

because it's just the land that we're on.

It's just the history of the land that we're on.

So for us, it became more than just serving foods.

It really became talking about it and talking about why it isn't here.

And I think it's a really important story for us to know.

And it's also really important to see

the benefit of why understanding Indigenous foods

could really help all of us in the future.

So, you know, but where are all the Native American restaurants?

We live in a world today, you know, where we have --

as the US, we’re like food capitals of the world, right?

We have some of the best restaurants in New York City, in Chicago and LA,

and zero Indigenous restaurants

that are focused on the land that they're sitting on,

which is kind of insane.

You can have every other restaurants -- and Indian restaurants don't count,

because that was my only choice on Facebook,

because when I was trying to decide how to describe our restaurant --

is it Indian or is it new American or old American?

But anyways, so what we've done is like we tried to focus on, first off,

just understanding what were precontact foods, precolonial foods.

And I realized that that term didn't even really make a lot of sense to people.

So I think it's really important to go through the storyline

because to understand colonial or what is a precolonial food,

you have to understand colonialism itself.

And to understand colonialism, the easiest way is just to Google it.

So if you Google the word "colonialism,"

you'll get a definition, "it's a policy or practice

of acquiring full or partial political control over another country,

occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically."

And this is something that's happened not uniquely here.

It's happened all across the globe.

So all over the Americas, North and South, all over Africa,

all over India, all over Southeast Asia,

Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, you name it,

like this has been a very common history

for a lot of areas around the globe.

For the US, which is our focus,

because we're right here smack dab in the middle of the United States,

it's really important to understand the history

because the US did a really good job of smudging its history a little bit.

So if you're going through high school,

the history you get on Indigenous peoples probably isn't the best history.

So you really should read a little bit more about what really happened.

So let's start with Manifest Destiny,

which is really kind of something that was born from the idea

of what was originally doctrine of discovery,

which basically gave European powers their own rights to say,

if we discover it, then we own it.

Right? But that policy doesn't really work that well,

because if you go into an Apple Store and you discover a brand new MacBook,

most likely you're not going to have the rights to walk out the door with it.

But a lot of our policies and a lot of --

like, our country was built on this notion

that we just have this right to everything, right?

And people have to remember how young our history is.

We're such a young country, you know?

There's like, barely any time has passed.

So just go back a couple hundred years

and, like, start with 1800s.

So in 1800, the United States is still not much more

than just the 13 colonies at that point in history.

And it’s the 1800s that are the most deadly century for Indigenous peoples.

So a lot of really bad things happened during this time period,

because in 1800, in reality,

almost all of what is the US is still completely occupied

by Indigenous peoples and communities

and a huge diversity of them across the board.

Even despite European powers having big land claims, you know,

France has a big section and Spain's got big chunks

and England is holding on to chunks and Russia is coming in

and there's all sorts of just big land grabs happening.

But in reality, it's the Indigenous communities

that have always been there.

But this century is a mass century of change, you know.

So during this time period, things move really fast.

So this is just a really tough time.

And for me, this is like my great-grandfather's era

because my great-grandfather was born in the late 1850s

and during his lifetime, he sees so much change so quickly,

he sees so many battles between the Lakota and the US government.

He sees the Battle of Little Bighorn when he's 18 years old,

during the battle on the Lakota side.

He sees his kids having to go to boarding school, cut their hair,

learn to speak English, learn Christianity.

He sees his children --

some of his children even grow up to fight for the US government.

So it's such a crazy amount of change to see in one single lifetime, right?

And during this time period, people are getting pushed around.

At the beginning of that century,

over 80 percent of that landmass was under Indigenous control.

And by the end of the century less than two percent,

only because of the reservation systems.

And this is all just part of the story

of why there aren't Native American restaurants,

because we just went through a really traumatic time in history

where we're still -- we haven't even had the time to heal yet,

let alone evolve, right, when it comes down to all this.

So the US history, you know,

there's a lot of these big movements like the Indian Removal Act of 1830,

the Homestead Act of 1862,

the Indian Appropriation Act

that basically said we're wards the states,

that we're not our own entities anymore,

the Dawes Act of 1887.

And all these pieces were very focused

and the government was really, really good at what they did, you know.

And it all starts with taking our food away from us.

So the loss of Indigenous food

is something that starts from the very beginning.

George Washington, one of his very first things that he does

is send General Sullivan out to push all the native people outside of the US.

He wanted them captured. He wanted them brought back.

And they went on this march that lasts a single summer

and does just that.

So after a single summer,

there's no more native people in all of that New York area,

from D.C. all the way up, basically.

And they named George Washington

the president.

They gave the name for a US president: Town Destroyer,

which is still the name that they use today

because he just devastated a whole area.

And this is the precedent that gets set

for how the US government treats the Indigenous peoples

throughout the next century, basically.

So here, in our area, the very systematic destruction of bison,

which they knew would hurt a lot of people, and it did.

And by the end of the century, there was less than 500 on the planet.

And it was very purposeful. So ...

But I think what's most damaging for us

and why we don't have a lot of Indigenous restaurants out there

was the loss of our education,

because this whole generation,

like my great-grandfather's generation

and my grandfather's generation especially,

like, those generations should have been getting

the full extent of Indigenous education.

They should have been learning everything their ancestors intended them to learn.

How to fish, how to hunt, how to gather, how to identify plants,

how to live sustainably, utilising plants and animals around us.

But instead, we went through a really intense assimilation period

where we basically, you know,

the boarding school systems

stripped this whole generation of all that knowledge and education.

And it became very traumatic

because this was not a fun situation for these kids to go through.

This was a military-style school and they popped up all over the US,

all over Canada.

These kids being again forced to speak different languages,

forced to learn new religions,

forced to learn skills that had nothing to do with them.

And being forced to is the situation.

You know, a lot of these kids perished.

We shouldn't have to worry about sending kids to school

to see if they'll survive or not.

But this was a very harsh situation for kids to go through.

And they went through physical abuse, sexual abuse.

They went through mental abuse.

And we're still reeling from that in our communities today

because of this direct link to the trauma that happened there.

And being Indigenous in the 1900s wasn't much better.

My grandparents were born before they were even citizens,

which doesn't happen until 1924.

And then in the 40s and 60s,

the US government started dismantling a lot of tribes.

So over 100 tribes got dismantled

so they could continue to take over more land spaces.

We couldn't vote until 1965.

We couldn't celebrate religions until '78, you know.

So what does it look like for me growing up in this?

I was born in the mid-70s and growing up in postcolonial America.

Like, what kind of foods was I eating?

And I get asked that a lot

because people in the media are always like,

"You're native, like what kind of foods did you grow up with?"

Because they want to hear a cool story like, "I'd get up in the morning,

take down an elk with a slingshot, we'd have a big family feast."

But that wasn't the reality,

because like I grew up with the Commodity Food Program

because we were poor, like a lot of people on the reservation.

And we didn't even have the pretty cans when I was growing up.

We just had, you know, these black and white cans, beef with juices.

And that's dinner, you know, and that sucks. So ...

And Indian tacos, you know, even when I was a kid, I was like,

why does our Lakota food taste like Mexican food?

It didn't even make sense to me at the time.

Because we could do better than this.

There's so much more to learn and more to offer with indigenous foods.

So it’s really important to understand what Indigenous foods are.

But first, you have to understand just like how diverse our nation is.

We're so diverse, there's all sorts of plants and animals out there.

And when you layer Indigenous peoples on it,

you can see so much amazing diversity, you know?

This is a language map.

So just look at all those huge color blocks

and within those color blocks

there's all sorts of diversity within those two, right?

Still today, we have 634 tribes in Canada,

573 in the US and 20 percent of Mexico identifies as Indigenous.

So there's an immense amount of indigeneity out there today

and we should be celebrating that diversity because it's awesome.

You know, just compare colonial settler states to Indigenous territories

and you can see that diversity.

It should change everywhere we go.

You know, the US, the food system

shouldn't just be hamburgers across the board,

or in Canada shouldn't just be poutine.

We could do so much better describing our foods, right?

And so we have to really focus on Indigenous education

because it's important for us to learn.

So when we're looking at Indigenous education,

it's a study of all these pieces, wild food, permaculture,

native agriculture, seed saving, seasonal lifestyles, ethno-oceanography,

hunting, fishing, whole animal butchery,

mycology, salt, sugar and fat productions,

crafting, land stewardship, cooking, metallurgy, Indigenous history,

traditional medicines, food preservation, fermentation, nutrition, health,

spirituality, gender roles, sustainability --

all of that stuff is this really important education

that we need to learn, you know.

So let's just break down some foods real quick.

Proteins are easy.

We learn about how natives were able to use every single part of a bison.

But that's just because we didn't have the privilege to be wasteful.

We figured out how to be resourceful with everything that we had

and we treated everything like that.

But basically, anything moving around is literally game.

And we cut out beef, pork and chicken because those animals didn't exist here.

And there are other animals to eat out there that aren't those three.

So there's just a ton of stuff out there.

And you shouldn't be afraid of something if it's not a cow, a pig or a chicken

because there's a lot of cool foods out there, and even insects,

it's so normal in so many parts of the world

and it was normal here, too.

But for us, our biggest love is plant knowledge

because you start to learn the plants around us,

you just see food and medicine everywhere.

The Western diet has never really taken the time

to learn this amazing biology that surround us

and all these plants all around us.

Because there's so much to learn.

There's all sorts of staples out there, like the timpsula,

which is the prairie turnip which grows around these plains.

Camas root from the Pacific Northwest, wild rice from the Great Lakes,

even just seaweed out there in the oceans,

which a lot of families were utilizing,

or in the deserts where all the plants look like

they want to hurt you or maim you.

The Indigenous peoples knew how to live with them.

And another piece like the domesticated piece,

with all the agriculture, it's really important,

because we think of this as agriculture but we know how damaging this is.

And it's scary when you see headlines like, "What should we do

if glyphosate was found in our Cheerios?"

You guys should be really scared about that.

That stuff's really nasty, you know.

But it's just amazing to learn about Indigenous agriculture

because it goes back so far

and people figured out all sorts of ways to farm

and build sustained, huge civilisations,

whether they're in the middle of the desert,

whether they're on the coastal regions, or way up here in the Dakotas.

People were able to farm amazing things

that had an amazing amount of diversity that we need to protect.

We are the stewards of what's left of this diversity.

And a lot of it got wiped off the map

in the 1800s with all that colonialism that was going on.

So we have to be understanding so we can protect these for the next generation

because these could disappear if we don't do anything about it.

So it's really important to understand that.

So to use Indigenous knowledge in today's world,

it's just important to open up your eyes, you know, stop calling everything a weed

because that just means you don't know what it is.

You know, our kids can name more K-Pop bands than they can trees

and that's your fault, you know?

(Laughter)

We need to teach them things that are important.

Because, like, just look around.

There's food everywhere and we should be making pantries,

like our grandparents did, and our great-grandparents.

They just used the food that was around us.

So we should just be making our own pantries

that tastes like where we are,

what makes us unique in our own region.

And that's why we should have Native American food restaurants

all over the nation, run by Indigenous peoples.

There's so much to explore.

There's so much flavor. There's so much health.

And it's just super healthy, you know,

and it's fun for chefs to create and play with all these flavors.

Chefs should be really excited about getting to learn all of these plants

that aren't in their diet

because they're just going out of a French cookbook.

And for us, we just want to get this food back into tribal communities especially,

and make people healthy and happy and break a lot of the cycle of, you know,

government reliance on food

and huge rates of type 2 diabetes and obesity and heart disease

because of this low nutritional food base

that the government's been feeding us for too long.

And we just need to think about how we can adjust

and make a better lifestyle.

We need to use our land spaces better.

Lawns are fucking stupid.

(Laughter)

We need to really do something better.

We could just be growing food out there, you know?

We could just be putting food plants everywhere.

We need more community gardens, more permacultural landscapes.

It's that easy.

If we can grow 30 golf courses

in Palm Springs in the middle of the desert,

just think what we could do if we just did that for good

and just put food everywhere, you know?

An organic food, food that wants to grow in that certain region.

So, you know, Indigenous diet

is really the most ideal diet.

It's healthy fats.

It's diverse proteins, it's low carbs, it's low salt.

It's a ton of plant diversity. It's organic agriculture.

It's celebrating cultural and regional diversity.

And it's seasonal.

It's just really good.

It's like what the paleo diet wishes it was,

when it comes down to it,

because that just makes sense, you know, and we need to protect this.

We need to get this out there.

And again, it's not unique here.

There's Indigenous peoples all around the world

and there's an Indigenous knowledge base

that's basically untapped because of the colonial structure

that's been put everywhere.

We need to be protecting people in Africa and India

and Southeast Asia and Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii,

South America, North America.

We need to protect those.

We need to be celebrating diversity

instead of trying to build stupid walls to keep people out.

We need to have, you know, healthy food access,

cultural food producers,

regional food systems, local control of food systems,

not governmental control,

access to Indigenous education and environmental protections

to protect a lot of this natural food that surround us.

We need to be better connected to our nature around us

and really, truly understand how it's a symbiotic relationship.

We're not above it, right?

If we can control our food, we can control our future.

And for us, it's an exciting time to be Indigenous

because we are taking all of these lessons from our ancestors

that should have been passed down to us,

relearning them and utilizing the world today

with everything it has to offer

and becoming something different.

We're at the stage where we're ready to evolve.

This is an Indigenous evolution and revolution at the same time.

So I hope someday that you can drive across this nation,

stop at Indigenous-run food businesses

and see this amazing amount of diversity out there

and just think about it, you know.