I left Minnesota for about four years to live in Mexico and Montana, and when I returned in 2012, I started seeing indigenous foods everywhere—literally popping out of the forest. In Bemidji, I spent a couple days foraging, fighting ticks, and finding lots of fun foods for a dinner. It was my first time making an all-indigenous dining experience.

Even though Thanksgiving has a loose, fictionally based storyline, it’s a time when so many celebrate indigenous foods, whether they realize it or not. You look at your traditional Thanksgiving table, with turkey, squash, beans, and sweet potatoes—it’s indigenous stuff. And I hope my cookbook, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, helps people play with those flavors.

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