Sean Sherman
Founder, Executive Director
Oglala Lakota
what is your professional background?
Cuál es su experiencia profesional?
A member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, Chef Sean Sherman focuses on the revitalization and
evolution of Indigenous foods systems throughout North America. Through his activism
and advocacy, Sean is helping to reclaim and celebrate the rich culinary heritage of
Indigenous communities around the world.
Sean has dedicated his career to supporting and promoting Indigenous food systems and
Native food sovereignty. His goal is to make Indigenous foods more accessible to as many
communities as possible through the non-profit North American Traditional Indigenous
Food Systems (NĀTIFS) and its Indigenous Food Lab professional Indigenous kitchen and
training center. Working to address the economic and health crises affecting Native
communities by re-establishing Native foodways, NĀTIFS imagines a new North American
food system that generates wealth and improves health in Native communities through
food-related enterprises.
Sean’s first book, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, received the James Beard Award for
Best American Cookbook in 2018, and he was given the 2019 Leadership Award from the
James Beard Foundation. In 2021, Sean opened Minnesota’s first full service Indigenous
restaurant, Owamni, which received the 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant
in America on top of numerous awards nationwide.