The Sioux Chef has gotten international attention for reclaiming precolonial indigenous foods as one key part of revitalizing Native American culture and bringing it to a broader audience. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board recently announced it would partner with The Sioux Chef to open a riverfront restaurant at the old Fuji Ya site in Downtown Minneapolis.
At the same time, there are several other local indigenous caterers emerging. Here are other options if you are looking for a caterer for an upcoming event.
Gatherings Cafe: Chef Austin Bartold runs the Gatherings Cafe, based in the Minneapolis American Indian Center. The Cafe also offers catering services, with customized menus. Bartold is Odaawaa Zaagaa’iganing Anishinaabe (in English, from the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe). “The whole healthy Native cooking was something we just grew up with,” he said. “It’s always been my passion to bring more fruits, vegetables and natural meats to the table.”
According to the Cafe’s website:
Our goal is to educate the community and promote decolonized diets to improve the health of the Native population that has been severely impacted by colonization and the resulting historical trauma and have led to epidemics of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other diet-related health problems.
Contact Bartold at 612-879-1753 or abartold@maicnet.org.
Also consider dropping in on the cafe, 1530 East Franklin Ave., Minneapolis, for a meal.
The Gatherings Café is a social enterprise of the Minneapolis American Indian Center, designed to help improve the health and well-being of the Twin Cities American Indian community by training Native community members in the culinary arts and obtain jobs in the food service industry.
For more, here is a link to the Cafe’s Facebook Page.
Yazzie the Chef: According to his webpage:
Brian Yazzie (a.k.a. Yazzie the Chef) is a Diné Chef from Dennehotso, Arizona which is located on the Notheastern part of the Navajo Nation. Yazzie has a degree in Applied Science (AAS) in Culinary Arts from Saint Paul College, and is also currently pursuing a degree in Hospitality Management. Yazzie the Chef is available for private events and provides cooking demonstrations utilizing healthy indigenous ingredients free of colonial/processed ingredients. He also currently serves as the Chef de Cuisine at The Sioux Chef.
For more, see the Yazzie the Chef webpage.
Native Food Perspectives, run by Christina White, Indigenous Food Chef. Here’s what she wrote us in an email:
I am an Urban Indian who grew up here in the cities and my tribe is Red Lake, Ojibwa. I started my own food business called Native Food Perspectives. I utilize traditional and seasonal foods and prepare dishes that balance flavor and nutrition. I have been cooking for about 5 years in the Indian Community at large, I’ve traveled to a few different regions experimenting with elk, bison, venison, walleye and more.
I am passionate about cooking fresh game; I can filet a fresh caught fish while talking to you about diabetes and heart disease prevention. I also do a short nutrition series on health & wellness.
I recently trained with Dream of Wild Health for my catering certification. Food is important part of the Native culture — Native Food Perspectives takes the traditional flavors and recipes and prepares them with fresh ingredients with an emphasis on nutrition.
For more, contact Christina at: 612-407-0122 or nativefoodperspectives@gmail.com or see her Native Food Perspectives Facebook Page.
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