麻豆社

After decades of racism, persecution and forced assimilation, Native Americans had lost many of their traditional foods and recipes. Award-winning chef Sean Sherman has made it his life鈥檚 mission to bring them back from the brink of extinction.

He tells Graihagh Jackson about a 鈥渇eral鈥� childhood spent on a vast reservation in South Dakota, USA, and how his impoverished community was forced to rely on highly processed, government-supplied commodity foods, which he says have had serious and long-term health implications for his people.

A successful but highly stressful career running restaurant kitchens pushed him to the point of burnout 鈥� he explains how a recuperation mission to Mexico led to an epiphany about his own food heritage and a meticulous effort to revive it and rid it of colonial influences.

He鈥檚 since written an award-winning cookbook, set up a non-profit to educate others about North America鈥檚 native cuisines, plans to open a restaurant next year, and tells us he wants to make his indigenous food movement a global one.

(Picture: Sean Sherman. Credit: Heidi Ehalt/麻豆社)