(Anishinabe from Red Cliff Wisconsin)
Culinary Program Specialist
Vern DeFoe has been working with our organization since the beginning, first co-managing the Tatanka Truck and then coming on in various management positions at The Sioux Chef. He has been working in the food industry for over 20 years, and is now the Kitchen Manager at the Indigenous Food Lab. He has a passion for showcasing the diversity and flavors of Native foods and connecting Native people to their ancestral foodways. He believes that this connection to ancestral foods is key for Indigenous people, and sees great empowerment in going outside and foraging for foods local to the area.
Vern grew up in Wisconsin and is a member of the Red Cliff Anishinaabe tribe. He is also passionate about treaty history, wildlife preservation, and Indigenous issues in politics. Vern is a musician as well, playing bass in the band War//Plague and sharing his passion for punk and heavy metal music.