197. Learning from Indigenous Chefs to Prepare a More Authentic Thanksgiving Meal

Welcome to Progressive Pockets! I go by GG, that’s short for Genet Gimja. This is a show about our money and our power, and what we want to do with it beyond ourselves. What do we want for our communities? What do we want for our country and our world… and what’s our place in all of this?

I’m your host, I go by GG that’s short for Genet Gimja. I do my best to bring you gentle, realistic suggestions based on the topics you request. We’re not going for perfection here, we’re going for progress.

And in that vein, let’s talk about Thanksgiving. If you are an American, you probably grew up participating in this holiday. I have some very clear memories of cutting out little vests out of grocery store paper bags and decorating them with construction paper cut outs of feathers and being led in the sham of the Thanksgiving story, you know, the one where the Native Americans sit down and break bread with the friendly Pilgrims.

Then at some point in my life, I remember learning more about the true history of the colonization of the US and what actually happened when the Pilgrims met the locals and whew, it was incredibly disturbing. That’s when I remember the holiday shifting to take the spotlight away from the sham story and making the focus around gratitude and having a feast with family and friends. For years I didn’t hear anyone tie the holiday to the history of our country.

And then now it seems we have entered a third phase of this holiday. One that is asking us to actually confront the devastating history behind the country’s founding AND, to take the time to actually learn about the indigenous history of this land.

November has been designated National American Indian Heritage Month. So let’s get into it. This week’s topic is going to be about our Thanksgiving plates.

There’s sort of the quintessential Thanksgiving meal that is served in a lot of American homes. A turkey, maybe a ham, some potatoes, some vegetables, some bread, and then some pies for dessert. We all tend to put our own spin on things. If you are from an Eritrean American family you have probably had a turkey seasoned with Berbere. If you are one of my caribbean American friends you might have a rice and beans dish that is added. Maybe some mac and cheese. If you’re southern, you might prefer sweet potato pie over a pumpkin pie. If you are in Texas, you might deep fry your turkey.

So the fundamentals are often the same, but everyone puts their own stank onto it. America. Diversity. We love to see it.

We spend a lot on this meal, almost a billion dollars on the turkey alone, which is wild to think about. And the topic we’re going to explore this week is on honoring indigenous cuisine.

I’m going to link a few resources in the show notes. First thing I’m going to link is a really interesting interview with a Sioux Chef named Sean Sherman. There are some international listeners to this show, so I want to pause quickly here- the Sioux are a cluster of 7 indigenous nations from the region where you find present-day Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa. Nowadays I more often hear about the Dakota people and the Lakota people. So Chef Sean Sherman comes from this community and as he puts it, he wants to showcase the amazing diversity and flavor profiles of all the different tribes across North America and he wants to cut away colonial ingredients. In the Fresh Air interview, he talks about his Minnesota based restaurant called Owamni, which has won a James Beard award. He talks about how the menu is decolonized meaning that the ingredients are local to the area, he doesn’t serve wheat flour, dairy, cane sugar, pork or chicken because those were brought over by the Europeans. But he does make a distinction that the food he serves is not pre-colonized, he’s not trying to mimic exactly how the food would have been prepared and served in 1491. It’s decolonized, he’s trying to strip away the foreign ingredients that just never really made sense for the region.

So he is serving ingredients like wild rice, rabbit, rose hips, blueberries, turkey, duck sausage, I’m looking at his menu now, there’s trout and corn, bison, mushrooms. Man, it sounds delicious! It says on his website that they prioritize purchasing from Indigenous food producers locally and nationally. Oh and they have swag! Check out these bandanas, they are giving!

And Chef Sean Sherman isn’t the only one talking about this, I’ll link a beautiful and moving essay written by an Indigenous Foods Activist named M. Karlos Baca. He invites us to imagine what the food systems were like before our country tried to extinguish traditional systems and cultures and families. I’m also going to include a link with an interview with Chef Nephi Craig, a Navajo chef who gives a broader interpretation of what it could mean for you to decolonize your plate. If you are an Indigenous listener, he encourages eaters to examine what you've been taught around food or nutrition, and to take a deep look to see if the standard American dietary pyramid reflects you as an individual. I really felt that.

And for all of us, he encourages to think through responsibly sourcing our food as well. Are we going to buy the Butterball turkey or go for a wild, heritage breed?

If you’re looking to introduce a dish at your Thanksgiving dinner, he suggests considering Three Sisters, beans, squash, and corn. Very interesting dish which highlights traditional ingredients but also some insights on traditional food science.

And he encourages us all to reflect on the lands where we sit and the ingredients we are eating. Maybe your Thanksgiving tradition is to go around and talk about what you’re grateful for. I’ll close with Chef Nephi Craig’s thoughts on that.

“Consider giving thanks for ancestral landscapes. All over the coasts and the United States, the most fruitful and agriculturally productive landscapes were once territories of native peoples. Rivers, fisheries, waterways, and other sources of food on land have genetic memories of food, just like we do.”

Alright. Thank you for joining me for another exploration of how we can line up our values and what we’re doing with our money. This week we explored the topic of this multi billion dollar Thanksgiving dinner industry, how we can re-examine it, and if we want to try to salvage the holiday, some thoughts on how we might update it to better align with our values.

So that’s today’s episode. If you have one minute please drop a 5 star review. And if you have two minutes, please write a few comments in your 5 star review sharing what you like about the show. Your review helps other listeners decide if they want to give the show a listen. Thank you for that! Let’s talk again soon!