In a world where ingredients for our daily meals are mass produced and we largely depend upon supermarkets and big restaurant chains, it isn’t easy to retrieve some form of symbiotic balance within our diet. However, symbiotic relationships are as old as the earth itself and refer to the natural association of two organisms benefitting from each other. If the balance is lost, meaning one of them grows stronger, the other species are negatively influenced and potentially die out forever.
With the symbiotic relationship of species in mind, it might not come as a surprise that the introduction of certain nutrients and agriculture from Europe to the United States starting the 15th century, had a negative impact on local ecosystems. So called ‘indigenous cuisine’ was almost completely wiped out by the 19th century and hasn’t had much chance of being restored. Needless to say, this unbalance is both inefficient and often not beneficial for our health. This and his respect for his Lakota ancestors was reason for Sioux chef Sean Sherman from South Dakota (US) to re-introduce local and seasonal harvesting by means of his indigenous restaurant, the Sioux Chef. Sherman and his partner Karlos Baca have cut out all European products and work exclusively with local and organic ones, like wapato, elk meat, lobster mushrooms, crab apples and edible flowers like the sunchoke, and the list of ingredients continues…
The Sioux Chef offers an environmental friendly and healthy solution through the support of local and indigenous growers and we think they are doing amazing work! Please check out the item about the restaurant:
