Podcast Summary:

How to Be a Better Human – "How to Eat with Awareness and Purpose" (w/ Sean Sherman)
Release Date: November 24, 2025
Host: Chris Duffy
Guest: Sean Sherman (Chef, Food Educator, Founder of NATIFS)

Episode Overview

This episode explores the deep connections between food, history, culture, and identity, featuring chef and activist Sean Sherman. The conversation centers on the reclamation and celebration of Indigenous foodways, the importance of food sovereignty, and the urgent need to recognize and honor the diversity and history of Native peoples through what we eat. Sherman shares his experiences growing up on Pine Ridge, the philosophy behind his acclaimed Minneapolis restaurant Owamni, and his broader work to shift both culinary and cultural narratives in America.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Food as Connection and Storytelling

• Chris Duffy opens with reflections on how food connects people to memories, family, and culture, but notes we rarely consider the history and systems behind what we eat. (01:07)
• Sean Sherman emphasizes that food is both a sensory experience and a powerful tool for education, storytelling, and cultural survival. Owamni, his restaurant, weaves those stories into its menu and philosophy.
  • "It's food with story. When you have food with story, it's really powerful." (11:48)

The Diversity and Erasure of Indigenous Foodways

• Sherman challenges stereotypes of Native cuisine, sharing his personal experience growing up with government commodity food on the reservation – a legacy of colonization and poverty. (02:41)
• He highlights the immense diversity in Indigenous cultures and their food systems across North America and calls for the celebration and stewardship of this "amazing diversity."
  • "We are the stewards of what's left of this diversity. A lot of it got wiped off the map in the 1800s with all that colonialism." (02:41)

Decolonizing the Plate—What Makes Owamni Unique

• At Owamni, all colonial ingredients (wheat, dairy, cane sugar, beef, pork, chicken) are removed, focusing solely on pre-colonial North American ingredients and sourcing from Indigenous producers. (09:42)
  • "We removed things like dairy, wheat flour, cane sugar, beef, pork, chicken, and just really focused on what was here first and built entire menus around that." (09:42)
• The restaurant seeks to normalize Native cuisine, support Indigenous food producers, and change who benefits from "food dollars."
  • "We want to make sure our food dollars are intentionally going to who we want to support." (09:42)
• Sherman describes the food as "ironically foreign" to most Americans, illustrating how much has been erased and lost. (10:29)
  • "A lot of people are very unaware of so much of the botany around us... there's so much plants, so much diversity, so much health and nutrition all around us." (11:02)

Food Sovereignty and Community Empowerment

• Food is positioned as a path to sovereignty: regaining control over cultivation, production, and preparation leads to healthier, more empowered communities. (14:40)
• His nonprofit, NATIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems), works on food access, education, and job creation, not just fine dining.
  • "Restaurants will never create food relief or even food access... The purpose of this restaurant wasn't to feed people in need, because we have other projects for that." (26:30)
  • Their purchasing priorities move resources directly to Indigenous producers and BIPOC communities.
    • "We're pushing over a half a million dollars a year just to Indigenous producers alone with this restaurant." (26:30)

The Ongoing Challenges of Colonization & Erasure

• Sherman offers historical context for why Native food traditions aren’t widely known: forced assimilation, boarding schools, reservation systems, and ongoing oppression. (12:41)
  • "The erasure of indigenous peoples in the Americas has been ongoing for quite a while … We’re typically left out of the American story, and food is such an important storyteller." (12:41)
• He connects the broader political debate about "who belongs" in America and the continued marginalization of Native peoples to ongoing colonial mindsets.
  • "Colonial borders are these made-up lines … governments are holding on to colonial powers." (17:37)

Defining and Removing “Colonial Ingredients”

• Explains how Owamni and his educational work distinguish between pre- and post-contact ingredients:
  • "Ranch dressing" as the joke example of a colonial ingredient. (20:08)
  • Serious exclusion list: wheat, dairy, cane sugar, beef, pork, chicken—replaced with local wild plants, game, fish, and Indigenous agricultural products. (20:08, 22:09)
  • "Everything at this restaurant is gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, soy free. It just happens to be the indigenous diet of North America." (22:09)

Food, Memory, and the Importance of Plant Knowledge

• Personal flavors and food memory are discussed, especially choked cherries and the dish "wojapi," which evoke home and family for Sherman. (31:33)
  • "Reminds me of the smell of my grandmother's kitchen growing up... the smell of sage in the dirt..." (31:33)
• He laments the way local plants are dismissed as "weeds" due to limited education and seeks to celebrate their value and meaning.
  • "If we taught kids the names of trees and plants, that education can go really far." (30:12)

Decolonizing the Diet: Values and Practices

• Decolonizing the plate is reframed as a positive move toward community, sustainability, and tradition.
  • "It’s a positive motion towards the future … Compare the values of colonization (division, dehumanization, land theft) with the values of Indigenous communities (community, sharing, passing down traditions, respect for the environment)." (33:48)
• Emphasizes the global nature of colonization and the need for the world's cultures to reclaim their traditional foods and knowledge.
  • "Colonization didn’t just happen to Native Americans ... It’s everywhere." (33:48)
• Offers hope that returning to ancestral foodways is a viable "old solution" for modern problems related to environment, health, and community. (34:52–36:24)
  • "Food is something we all have in common ... a powerful language." (37:49)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Indigenous diversity and evolution:

  "For us, it’s an exciting time to be indigenous because we are taking all of these lessons from our ancestors that should have been passed down to us, relearning them, ... and becoming something different. This is an indigenous evolution and revolution at the same time."
  — Sean Sherman (02:41)

• On the impact of Owamni:

  "We've gotten a lot of success... we've been sold out every night since 2021... We just hope it has ripple effects of more influence out there in the world."
  — Sean Sherman (25:12)

• On food sovereignty:

  "If we can control our food, we can control our future."
  — Sean Sherman (14:40)

• On the disconnect of loving food from other cultures but not its people:

  "There's often this real disconnect where people love to eat food from different cultures ... But then they don't love to care for the people who are making that food or the people where the food comes from."
  — Chris Duffy (36:24)

• On passing food culture to the next generation:

  "I cook a lot at home ... I let [my son] make his own decisions by just giving him some critical facts... It’s important to normalize not only healthy food, but culturally relevant food."
  — Sean Sherman (32:39)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:07] Introduction to the topic: food, memory, and meaning
• [02:41] Sean Sherman's TED Talk excerpt on growing up and Indigenous food erasure
• [08:30] Sean Sherman introduces himself and Owamni
• [09:42] How Owamni avoids colonial ingredients and supports Indigenous producers
• [12:41] Discussion of the deliberate erasure of Native foodways and culture
• [14:40] Food sovereignty and future possibilities
• [19:30] Defining Indigenous cuisine and tribal diversity
• [20:08] "What’s a colonial ingredient? Ranch dressing."
• [22:09] Health benefits of decolonized Indigenous diets
• [24:05] Sherman's childhood food memories, impacts of government commodity foods
• [26:30] Owamni as part of a nonprofit model; supporting broader Indigenous access and education
• [31:33] Flavors and memories: the importance of choked cherry and food as comfort
• [33:48] What it means to decolonize our diets
• [36:24] Disconnect between love of cuisine and care for cultures/people
• [37:49] Closing on food's power to connect

Tone and Language

Throughout, the tone is engaged and reflective, combining Chris Duffy’s warmth and humor with Sean Sherman’s thoughtful, direct, and gently challenging style. Sherman consistently blends specifics (recipes, plants, history) with wider calls to action, always rooting his expertise in lived experience and community values.

Key Takeaways

• Food is a site of cultural survival, storytelling, and future-making.
• Indigenous foodways are diverse, sophisticated, and relevant today—not museum pieces.
• Decolonizing the plate means looking to local, Indigenous ingredients, honoring ancestral practices, and undoing the harm of colonization on body and land.
• Supporting Indigenous restaurants and food producers is an act of cultural respect and economic justice.
• Returning to these traditions is both a personal and collective act of reclamation, remembrance, and hope for a healthier, more connected future.

For more, visit natifs.org or Sean Sherman’s website, and check out his newest cookbook, Turtle Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America.