It was on a trip to Mexico that The Sioux Chef, Sean Sherman, had a revelation. Awakened to some critical truths about food and culture, he embarked on an empowering journey of culinary discovery, which is captured in his new cookbook, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, written with Beth Dooley and published by University of Minnesota Press.

And from the very first page of what is arguably one of the most important cookbooks of the year, Sherman (Oglala Lakota) shares some heady stuff he’s discovered — and uncovered. That the personal and collective are one and the same. That sometimes you have to look outward to see within yourself. That the past holds truths that the present has often confused. That, given all of the above, you can set the table with a new view of real Native American food.

Keep reading.