Sean Sherman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids 
Sherman in 2021
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| Born | 1974 (age 50–51) Pine Ridge, South Dakota, U.S. |
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| Cooking style | Indigenous cuisine |
| Education | Black Hills State University |
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Current restaurant(s)
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Award(s) won
James Beard Foundation Awards:
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Sean Sherman (born 1974) is an American chef who is part of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe. He is famous for his work with Indigenous cuisine, which focuses on foods native to North America. Sherman is also a cookbook author and a forager, meaning he gathers wild food. He started the Indigenous Food Lab, a catering service called The Sioux Chef, and a non-profit group called North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NĀTIFS). He has won several important awards, including a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award. His cookbook, The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, won the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook in 2018. In 2022, his restaurant, Owamni, was named Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation.
Contents
Sean Sherman's Early Life and Career
Sean Sherman was born in 1974. He grew up on his grandparents' ranch on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. From a young age, he learned to hunt and gather wild plants. He remembers his grandfather giving him a shotgun when he was seven years old.
He grew up eating many government-provided foods, like cereal and canned hash. He wants to change this by bringing back traditional Native American foods. Sherman studied at Black Hills State University. His grandparents spoke the Lakota fluently.
Starting in the Kitchen
Sherman's first job in a restaurant was washing dishes when he was 13. Soon, he started working as a cook. He also spent a summer working for the US Forest Service in the Black Hills, learning to identify plants.
In his twenties, he worked in many restaurants in Minneapolis. By the time he was 27, he was an executive chef, which means he was in charge of the kitchen. At 29, he felt tired of the restaurant world and took a break in Mexico. While there, he spent time with some Huichol people. He had an important realization: "After seeing how the Huicholes held onto so much of their pre-European culture through artwork and food, I recognized I wanted to know my own food heritage. What did my ancestors eat before the Europeans arrived on our lands?”
Creating The Sioux Chef
In 2014, Sherman started The Sioux Chef. This business teaches people about indigenous foods and offers catering services. The name "Sioux Chef" sounds like "sous-chef," which is a chef who works under the main chef.
In 2015, he launched Tatanka Truck, a food truck. It served dishes like bison wild rice and teas made from cedar and maple.
In 2017, he started a non-profit organization called North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NĀTIFS). This group works to bring back traditional Native American food systems.
His Award-Winning Cookbook
In 2017, Sean Sherman co-wrote The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen. To create the recipes, he talked to older community members and looked through old records. The book's recipes do not use dairy, wheat, beef, pork, or cane sugar. This is because these ingredients were brought to North America by European settlers. Sherman describes his recipes as "hyperlocal, ultraseasonal, uber-healthy [and] most of all, it's utterly delicious."
The book won the 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook. That same year, he cooked a special six-course dinner at the James Beard House.
Recognition and Restaurant Owamni
In 2018, he took part in a discussion at the National Museum of American History. He also prepared a traditional dish called Mag˘áksic˘a na Psíŋ Wasná, which is duck and wild rice pemmican.
In 2019, Sherman received a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award. This award honors people and groups who are working to make the food world better.
In 2021, he opened his restaurant, Owamni, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The restaurant serves dishes made only with ingredients that were found in North America before European colonization. Owamni won the 2022 James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant.
The New York Times newspaper has described his cooking style as "colorful and elegant." In 2023, Sherman was named one of the TIME 100 Most Influential People.
Sean Sherman's Food Philosophy
Sean Sherman decided to stop using ingredients that are not native to North America. He had a big realization while working in a restaurant in Mexico that used only local ingredients. He understood that the traditional foods of his Oglala people were not well-known in American cooking.
He believes that indigenous cuisine is not just a passing trend. He says, "This is not a trend. It's a way of life." He explained to the James Beard Foundation, "We're not trying to cook like it's 1491. We're trying to take knowledge from the past and evolve it for today." This means he uses old traditions with new cooking methods.
Thoughts on Frybread
Along with some other Native American chefs, Sherman has mixed feelings about frybread. Frybread is often seen as a traditional Native American food. However, Sherman calls it "everything that isn't Native American food." He says it represents "perseverance and pain, ingenuity and resilience."
Frybread became important because Native Americans had to make do with government-provided flour, sugar, and lard. This happened after they were moved to lands where they couldn't grow their traditional foods like corn and beans. So, while frybread shows how strong and clever Native Americans were, some chefs also see it as a reminder of difficult times.
Personal Life
Sean Sherman lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has one son.
Awards and Recognition
- 2018 James Beard Best American Cookbook
- 2019 James Beard Leadership Award
- 2022 James Beard Best New Restaurant
- 2023 Julia Child Award
See also
