DECOLONIZED INGREDIENTS
Experience the true flavors of North America, featuring foods of Mni Sota Makoce, Land Where the Waters Reflect the Clouds.
We prioritize purchasing from Indigenous food producers locally and nationally. We have removed colonial ingredients such as wheat flour, cane sugar and dairy. We are proud to present a decolonized dining experience.
PROMOTING INDIGENOUS FOODWAYS EDUCATION
YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND
Our mission is to promote Indigenous foodways education and facilitate Indigenous food access.
Chef Sean Sherman is an award-winning chef, educator, author, and activist. A member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe, Sean’s personal mission is to revitalize Indigenous food systems and build awareness of the transformational potential of Indigenous foodways to restore the health, local economies, culture, and food sovereignty of Native people.
About Sean
Chef Sean Sherman has dedicated his career to supporting and promoting Indigenous food systems and Native food sovereignty.
Sean’s cooking style is based on pre-colonial Indigenous food systems, using only ingredients that are native to North America. His menus are inspired by the seasons and the land, featuring traditional ingredients like bison, hand-harvested wild rice, cedar, and sumac. He draws on the knowledge and culinary techniques of his ancestors to develop innovative, nutritious, and flavorful dishes that incorporate wild game, fish, foraged plants, and heirloom grains.
Through his activism and advocacy, Sean is helping to reclaim and celebrate the rich culinary heritage of Indigenous communities around the world.
PHOTO: NANCY BUNDT
“Our ancestors understood how to live in balance with the natural world. Indigenous foods are the original foods of this continent. It’s important we recognize that and start celebrating those foods.”
“Sean has had a major impact on revitalizing and revolutionizing Native cuisine in the U.S., including through his Minneapolis-based restaurant Owamni, which has expanded with the work of his nonprofit, North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems. He has galvanized a new generation of Indigenous chefs to honor their culinary heritage and to decolonize their diets.”
“Through his activism and advocacy, Sean is helping to reclaim and celebrate the rich culinary heritage of Indigenous communities around the world.”
PHOTO: SEAN SHERMAN
NĀTIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems) is a non-profit organization that works to revitalize Indigenous food systems across North America. We envision a food system that generates wealth and improves health in Native communities through food-related enterprises. NATIFS initiatives include the Indigenous Food Lab, advocacy and education, seed and knowledge sovereignty, and Indigenous foodways curriculum.
New Book by Sean Sherman
Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America
Uncover the stories behind the foods that have linked the natural environments, traditions, and histories of Indigenous peoples across North America for millennia through more than 150 ancestral and modern recipes from three-time James Beard Award-winning Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman.
The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen
Here is real food—our indigenous American fruits and vegetables, the wild and foraged ingredients, game and fish. Locally sourced, seasonal, “clean” ingredients and nose-to-tail cooking are nothing new to Sean Sherman, the Oglala Lakota chef and founder of The Sioux Chef. In his breakout book, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, Sherman shares his approach to creating boldly seasoned foods that are vibrant, healthful, at once elegant and easy.
Indigenous Food Lab Market
High-quality Indigenous foods and products
The Indigenous Food Lab Market is a kitchen and retail space that offers high-quality Indigenous foods and products to our community. We work to broaden access to Native-made goods and allow people to experience contemporary Indigenous offerings while empowering entrepreneurs to expand their audience.
Updates
Save our Food Industry – A Letter to Congress
Yesterday in DC, I met with MN Senator Tina Smith alongside leaders from across the food system to deliver 1,500+ signatures demanding accountability for what’s happening in Minneapolis. This was an urgent warning about the dangerous consequences DHS and ICE tactics...
How to Eat with Awareness and Purpose (w/ Sean Sherman) | How to Be a Better Human | TED
If you remove ingredients like dairy, wheat, flour, cane sugar, beef, pork and chicken from your diet — then what do you eat? For Sioux chef Sean Sherman, excluding these colonial ingredients from his dishes gives him the opportunity to spotlight Indigenous produce...
In the Press: Sean Sherman – Cook Book – Turtle Island
The 14 Best Cookbooks of 2025 - New York Times Exceptional new cookbooks, with fresh takes on easy baking, Thai cooking in America and seasonal pasta, as tested by New York Times Cooking and the Food desk. "Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples...
Sean Sherman – “Turtle Island” & Fighting Native American Erasure With Food | The Daily Show
Sean Sherman on The Daily Show with Ronny Chieng James Beard award-winning chef Sean Sherman sits down with Ronny Chieng to discuss his new book "Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America." They talk about using food as a tool for...
New York Times – A New Native American Cookbook Urges You to Look Nearb
New York Times — November 7 2025 — Sean Sherman’s latest cookbook, “Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America,” catalogs traditional cooking practices with an eye to the future ... The chef Sean Sherman’s latest cookbook comes out...
Owamni to Relocate in 2026 to Guthrie Theater Restaurant Space
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — October 1, 2025 — The Guthrie Theater and North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS), the nonprofit organization that owns and operates the James Beard Award-winning restaurant Owamni, announce that Owamni will relocate in spring...
“We’re here to create a conversation about what Indigenous foods are and why they’re important.”
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