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Sean Sherman: My life in five dishes

The chef fighting to bring true Native American cuisine back from the brink of extinction.

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/成人快手)

Available now

33 minutes

Last on

Mon 31 Aug 2020 00:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Thu 27 Aug 2020 10:32GMT
  • Thu 27 Aug 2020 15:32GMT
  • Thu 27 Aug 2020 21:32GMT
  • Thu 27 Aug 2020 22:32GMT
  • Sun 30 Aug 2020 07:32GMT
  • Mon 31 Aug 2020 00:32GMT

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