Indigenous Food Is Finding Its Way Back to the Table

There is something powerful happening in today's kitchens, restaurants, cookbooks, and communities across North America.

Foods and flavors that have nourished Indigenous peoples for generations are finding a wider audience. Wild rice, corn, beans, squash, maple, sumac, cedar, wild mushrooms, berries, game and other ingredients rooted in the lands of North America are appearing on restaurant menus, in cookbooks, and increasingly in home kitchens.

But this isn't really about discovering something new; It's about reconnecting with something that has been here all along.

A Food Story That Began Long Before Us

Long before European settlement, Indigenous nations across North America had rich and highly developed food traditions shaped by the lands and waters around them.

Food followed the seasons. Knowledge about harvesting, hunting, fishing, preserving and preparing ingredients was passed from one generation to the next. Corn, beans and squash grew together. Wild rice was harvested from lakes. Maple trees provided sweetness. Berries, mushrooms, herbs and plants were gathered from forests and fields.

Food was never simply an ingredient on a plate. It carried stories, relationships, knowledge and a connection to place.

Colonization profoundly disrupted those food systems. Communities were displaced from their traditional lands, access to traditional foods was restricted, and generations of food knowledge were threatened.

Yet those traditions never disappeared.

Today, Indigenous chefs, growers, authors, entrepreneurs and educators are bringing them forward in ways that feel both deeply rooted and remarkably contemporary.

From Wendake to the Modern Kitchen

That same connection between ancestral knowledge and contemporary cooking is at the heart of The Warrior Blends.

Founder Daniel Picard draws inspiration from his Huron-Wendat heritage and from ingredients that have long been part of the foodways of the region; ingredients such as green alder pepper, sumac, cedar, maple and wild mushrooms.

His culinary work is also moving onto the printed page with Les Recettes du Guerrier : Des saveurs ancestrales, une cuisine moderne; The Warrior's Recipes: Ancestral Flavors, Modern Cuisine which is a forthcoming French-language cookbook that brings those flavors into today's kitchen.

The title captures something important about the larger Indigenous food movement: preserving tradition doesn't mean leaving it in the past as traditions live because people continue to cook with them, interpret them and share them.

Picard is also associated with La Route des Premières Nations, a biographical project exploring Indigenous people, places and stories.

Together, these projects, as well as many others, help introduce a part of the Indigenous culinary landscape one rooted in Wendake and the traditions and ingredients of the Huron-Wendat Nation.

Sean Sherman and a New Generation of Indigenous Cuisine

One of the most recognized voices in this movement is Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman, founder of The Sioux Chef and the nonprofit NĀTIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems).

Sherman's work asks a wonderfully simple question: What would North American cuisine look like if we began with the foods that were here before European colonization?

His groundbreaking restaurant Owamni brought that idea to the table in Minneapolis, building its menu around Indigenous ingredients while leaving out colonial staples such as wheat flour, cane sugar and dairy. Owamni went on to receive the 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in America.

That vision continues to grow

Through NĀTIFS, Sherman and his team work to expand access to Indigenous foods, support Native food producers, provide education and training, and strengthen Indigenous food economies. NĀTIFS describes its mission simply as promoting Indigenous foodways education and facilitating Indigenous food access.

Its newest projects include ŠHOTÁ Indigenous BBQ by Owamni, bringing Indigenous ingredients and techniques into the familiar world of barbecue. The planned menu includes smoked meats, fish and vegetables alongside dishes such as maple-baked beans, wild rice, hominy, braised greens and smoked salmon with huckleberries.

For us at The Warrior Blends, this movement has an especially personal connection as our seasonings are among the Indigenous-made products carried by the NĀTIFS Indigenous Food Lab Market. 

It is a reminder that revitalizing Indigenous cuisine isn't the work of one chef, one restaurant or one nation. It is a growing community.

Indigenous Stories You Can Bring Into Your Own Kitchen

Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of this culinary resurgence is that you don't have to visit a restaurant to experience it.

A growing collection of extraordinary cookbooks is bringing Indigenous voices, stories and recipes directly into home kitchens.

Les Recettes du Guerrier: Des saveurs ancestrales, une cuisine moderne by Daniel Picard adds a Huron-Wendat voice to that growing library, sharing ancestral flavors through the lens of a modern kitchen.

The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley
Winner of the 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook, Sherman's groundbreaking book explores ingredients including wild rice, game, fish, berries, sumac, maple and wild plants while introducing readers to a distinctly Indigenous approach to cooking.

tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane M. Chartrand with Jennifer Cockrall-King
Chef Shane Chartrand of the Enoch Cree Nation combines recipes with the story of his own journey reconnecting with his Indigenous heritage. The Cree word tawâw expresses an invitation: come in, you're welcome, there's room.

The Modern Navajo Kitchen by Alana Yazzie
Diné author Alana Yazzie brings Navajo flavors and traditions into an approachable contemporary kitchen, sharing recipes inspired by her heritage and the foods of the Southwest.

And Chími Nu'am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen by Sara Calvosa Olson
Karuk food writer Sara Calvosa Olson explores Native California foodways through more than 70 seasonal recipes. Chími Nu'am means “Let's eat!” in the Karuk language — a fitting invitation into a book centered on food, seasonality and connection.

These aren't simply collections of recipes. They are invitations to understand food differently, to know where an ingredient comes from, who has cooked with it for generations, and the story it carries to the table.

Cook with real wild rice. Try sumac for its bright, citrus-like flavor. Discover the warmth of green alder pepper. Sweeten something with maple. Experiment with corn, beans and squash together. Look for Indigenous-grown and Indigenous-made foods when you shop.

Visit an Indigenous-owned restaurant when you travel. Seek out Native food producers. Pick up a cookbook written by an Indigenous chef or author.

And perhaps most importantly, learn the story behind what you're eating.

Because an ingredient becomes much more meaningful when you understand the people, land and traditions connected to it.

More Than a Culinary Trend

It would be easy to describe the growing interest in Indigenous cuisine as a food trend.

It is something much deeper.

It is chefs opening restaurants, authors writing cookbooks elders sharing knowledge, producers creating businesses and foragers returning to the land. Organizations like NĀTIFS building opportunities for the next generation. And home cooks discovering flavors that have existed on this continent for thousands of years.

It is tradition continuing rather than simply being remembered.

And every time indigenous ingredients find their way onto another table, another part of that story continues.

Perhaps that is the most beautiful thing about food.

It gives us a way to remember the past while still creating something new.