NORTH AMERICAN TRADITIONAL INDIGENOUS FOOD SYSTEMS

Chef Sean Sherman and members of the NĀTIFS and IFL team present Plymouth Rock Landed On Us, a multi-day residency at the new James Beard Foundation event space in New York City. The residency will feature chefs from our teams as well as Indigenous chefs across Turtle Island, and will be presented in collaboration with the BIPOC Foodways Alliance at Platform, the new James Beard Foundation chef-in-residence program at Pier 57 in New York City’s Hudson River Park. The residency will run May 7 through May 11, 2023. For tickets, visit Platform by JBF.

Over the years, the James Beard Foundation has provided crucial support and encouragement for NĀTIFS work and Indigenous food sovereignty. The new Platform by JBF space is a launching pad for Indigenous voices like Chef Sean as he spreads the message of the importance of Indigenous foodways revitalization within the United States.    

Plymouth Rock Landed on Us will offer a week of Indigenous and Black perspectives on American foodways and creating a better and more meaningful future for all people who cook and eat in the United States. The pop up includes the following events:

  • Decolonizing Our Futures and Our Plates Panel and tasting. Sunday, May 7, 6 pm.  

Mecca Bos of BIPOC Foodways Alliance joins Chef Sean Sherman in moderating a panel discussion on the intersection and alignment of Indigenous and Black foodways. Tasting menu by Sean Sherman and Mecca Bos includes five appetizers. $50.

The menu includes: 

OYSTERS • DRIED SMOKED EEL • MAPLE CHILI CRISP

CORN CAKES • MORELS • WHITE CEDAR

SMOKED DUCK • WILD RICE CAKES • BLACKBERRY SAUCE

JOLLOF RICE CAKE • MANGO + SCOTCH BONNET • SWEET POTATO LEAF

  • Dismantling White Supremacy Through Food Dinner. Monday May 8, 7 pm. 

Mecca Bos of the BIPOC Foodways Alliance joins Chef Sean Sherman in offering a perspective on the true origins of American cooking through a Black and Indigenous lens and the mission of the BIPOC Foodways Alliance, which seeks to unite all BIPOC people using food as a tool. Menu by Sean Sherman and Mecca Bos includes four appetizers and three courses plus amusé. $150.

The menu includes: 

Appetizers:

SHRIMP + YAM CAKE • TAMARIND
PLANTAIN CHIPS • SPICED TOMATO JAM • PUFFED SORGHUM
MINI HOT TAMALE PIE

Amuse:

SMOKED DUCK CACHUPA – HOMINY • BEANS • TOMATO • CASSAVA • YAM

Course 1:

JOLLOF RICE CAKE • MANGO + SCOTCH BONNET • SWEET POTATO LEAF 

Course 2:

SMOKED GOAT • MUSHROOM EGUSI • FUFU • DRIED COLLARD

Course 3:

EDNA LEWIS’ SORGHUM MOLASSES GINGERBREAD • FRIED PEANUT • SPICED TAMARIND SAUCE • DRIED MINT LEAF

  • Feeding an Indigenous (R)evolution Dinner. Tuesday, May 9, 7 pm. 

Chef Sean Sherman shares the evolution of his team’s mission to promote Indigenous Foodways Education and facilitate Indigenous food access using Indigenous-led value systems, a journey that began with the nonprofit  NATIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems), gave birth to the restaurant Owanmi, and continues with the Indigenous Food Lab in Minneapolis. Menu by Sean Sherman’s Indigenous Food Lab includes four appetizers and five courses plus amusé. $225.

The menu includes: 

Appetizers: 

MINI BISON TACO / MINI MUSHROOM TACO

ELK MEATBALL • ARONIA BERRY 

WILD RICE CROQUETTE • ROSE HIP

ROASTED SWEET POTATO • MAPLE CHILE CRISP

Amuse:

WHITE CORN CAKE • SMOKED TURKEY • MAPLE ANCHO

Course 1:

QUAHOG PUMPKIN STEW • SWEET POTATO CRISP

Course 2:

VENISON TARTARE • PICKLED RAMP • BALSAM FIR • DUCK EGG SUMAC AIOLI • CANDIED SUNFLOWER SEED 

Course 3:

STEWED BISON TAIL • SMOKED FOREST MUSHROOM • HOMINY CAKE • NETTLE PURÉE 

Course 4:

MAPLE WILD RICE • SMOKED WALLEYE CAKE • FERMENTED DANDELION • PICKLED BLUEBERRY • FIDDLEHEAD 

Course 5:

RED BEAN CAKE • MAPLE MOLÉ FROSTING • VANILLA PUMPKIN SEED ICE CREAM

  • You are on Native Land dinner Thursday, May 11, 7 pm. 

A team of chefs join Chef Sherman for a dinner highlighting the true diversity of North American land spaces and terroir, encouraging diners to look beyond colonial borders. Menu includes five appetizers and five courses plus amusé. $225.

The menu includes: 

APPETIZERS:

Blue Corn Mush • Juniper Agave Popcorn

Spicy Melon • Spruce Tip Infused Honey

Cured Salmon • Sunchoke Chips • Ramp Pesto

Antelope Meatball • Rosehip • Sage

AMUSE:

BRAISED BEAVER TACO • CRANBERRY • WATERCRESS

Course 1:

PRESERVED SALMON • KELP SALAD • HUCKLEBERRY SAUCE • FIDDLEHEAD FERN

Course 2:

SQUASH FRITTERS • PERSIMMON COMPOTE • PICKLED ASPARAGUS • MAPLE FLOWER 

Course 3:

GREEN CHILE LAMB • BLUE CORN TOSTADAS • SPRING ONIONS • NOPALES

Course 4:

CHOCHOYOTES • CHARRED SWEET CORN • GUAJILLO HUITLACOCHE SAUCE • EPAZOTE

Course 5:

BLUE CORN PUDDING • PICKLED BLUEBERRY • AGAVE PINON

The NĀTIFS team, which also includes NĀTIFS Indigenous chef Vern DeFoe (Anishinaabe), culinary program coordinator Nash McRoberts, and Nixtamal specialist Yairany “Chiquis” Galiano, will be joined by James Beard Foundation nominees Justin and Tia Pioche, Salt clan Dine’ (Ashihii) born for the Folded Arms People (Bitahnii) and their Mother Janice Brown (Ashihii – salt clan) born for the Towering House people (Kiyaa’aanii), the owners of Pioche Food Group in Upper Fruitland, NM. Pioche Food Group partners with Navajo Ethno Agriculture, a nonprofit educational farm where they are able to help grow, harvest, preserve, and teach students from around the country about Dine’(Navajo) food, history, and culture. 

Platform by the James Beard Foundation is a state-of-the-art show kitchen, event space, and educational hub for culinary arts programming. Platform, anchored within the Market 57 food hall, opened in the spring of 2023 at the newly reimagined Pier 57, 25 11th Avenue at 15th Street, in Hudson River Park, steps from the Whitney Museum in NYC’s Chelsea neighborhood.

The weekly Platform by JBF chef-in-residence program provides a unique venue for culinary talent aligned to the Foundation’s mission of Good Food for Good® to showcase their work and share their stories with a global audience in one of New York City’s newest and most exciting food destinations. Through the program, the James Beard Foundation will aim to highlight chefs representing a diversity of cuisines, cultures, cooking philosophies, and styles—while  celebrating the people, cultures, traditions, and innovations shaping America’s food culture today. Featured talent will include everyone from distinguished leaders to the next generation of culinary talent the Foundation supports through programs like the Beard House Fellows, Legacy Network, Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, and others.

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