INDIE EDITOR’S CHOICE: NONFICTION

THE SIOUX CHEF’S INDIGENOUS KITCHEN Sean Sherman, Beth Dooley, University of Minnesota Press, 978-0-8166-9979-7

Chef Sean Sherman’s The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen is the culmination of years of research, professional development, and passion. It is a springboard from which a new and exciting field of cooking is developing—under Chef Sherman’s leadership and that of a handful of other chefs. Chef Sherman lays out his vision for reclaiming indigenous food, observing the difficulty of culinary symbols that connect back to painful historical narratives. He suggests updating the story and returning to the healthy traditional foods of indigenous people. This is exciting work, from a professional perspective and otherwise. It showcases food as a focal point, bringing people together. There are cookbooks from which one simply cooks the recipes, and cookbooks from which one learns how and why to cook. Chef Sherman’s book is in the latter. It is a cookbook meant to be studied, one where the recipes are not its most important feature, but rather a part of an overall call to reclaim the history and culture of indigenous peoples, beginning with a reclamation of their traditional foods. Chef Sherman observes that controlling food is a means of controlling power. With this cookbook, he is taking that power and giving it back to its rightful owners.

“… a springboard from which a new and exciting field of cooking is developing.”