Tucked in the corner of the Seattle Culinary Academy’s kitchen, half a dozen culinary students loudly laughed around trays of tostadas they were helping prepare for that night’s evening dinner service. The kitchen wafted earthy scents of salt and blue corn meal layered with sweet corn and freshly cut green onions. As they seamlessly worked together to layer beans onto blue corn tostadas, subtle traces of rich bison meat juices hung through the air. While working on preparing an ancestral feast, a curious student asked her fellow classmate Ryan Wero, Navajo, how the foods he was helping prepare compared to his traditional foods.
Wero hopes to see more young Native chefs, like himself, serving up traditional-inspired dishes that highlight the original roots of Native nations in America.
“When you come to America, you don’t really see many Native inspired dishes,” Wero said. “You kind of just see the diversity that the US was built on. We have all these different cuisines and cultures that come together and they make food that represents who they are and where their family came from. But you don’t really see much of Native food out there.”
However, in the Seattle Culinary Academy’s kitchen on October 2, Native cuisine made up the entire menu, for Native Grown and Gathered: Ancestral Table and Slow Food Feast.
Unexpected Culinary Opportunities
As guests made their way into the halls of the academy’s restaurant, One World, they were met with a mixture of appetizing smells. Freshly cooked cacao-coffee rubbed bison was being plated for dinner and while the rich, earthy smell that’s found in cooked gourds and wild grains were fighting against each other to stand out. Scents mixed together as over a dozen chefs quickly dashed around the kitchens and soon-to-be chefs moved quickly through the kitchen to prepare and plate the four course meal that the evening.
In the back kitchen, chef Holly Holt, Syilx Okanagan of Snpink’tn Indian Band, helped prepare the appetizers created by chef Luke Black Elk. Savory bison and wild rice meatballs with a squash puree were gently plated by other chefs as Holt worked on the second appetizer: black bean and blueberry-corn salsa on a blue-corn tostada. The appetizers complimented each other well with guests saying the fresh crunch of the tostada was balanced perfectly by the warmth of the dense, rich, and juicy meatballs.
Each of the four courses was designed by a different chef, and in Holt’s experience, was a menu that left guests feeling fully satisfied. The first course was a crispy wild rice croquette with a wild blackberry compote by chef Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota.
It was traditional and earthy. The wild rice tasted like the soil it came from and held its own rich flavor as an ancient grain. The crisp and natural-taste of the croquette mixed with the sweetness of the compote made a dish that felt both comforting and light.
“Each dish was very specific to the chef who worked on it. I feel like each dish had its own individuality, but at the same time, everything blended really well together, and was like, well thought out,” Holt said. “A lot of tasting menus I can see sometimes from other chefs can be really heavy and then you finish the meal and you’re like ‘Oh my gosh, I feel like I’m gonna die.’”
As Holt, who’s the in-house chef for the Yellowhead tribal council, reflected on her experience of the evening, she reminisced on the way she was in the right place at the right time. She didn’t design a course for the menu and didn’t even know she’d be cooking that night. Earlier that day, Holt had attended the Native Grown and Gathered Food Expo and listened to Keynote speaker chef Sherman.
A longtime fan, she introduced herself to Sherman, took a photo, gave him her business card and offered her services to help him anytime he needed an extra set of hands. Little did she know, Sherman would ask her to join him and chefs Luke Black Elk, Pyet Despain, Rob Kinneen and ethnobotanist Linda Black Elk that night.
“I went to the Expo for work, but I was secretly thinking ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so excited to listen to panel discussions from these people that are the chefs that are so inspirational to me,” she said. “It was very exciting for me.”
Decolonizing the kitchen
A trained chef who appeared on season 12 of Top Chef Canada, Holt has been in a plethora of kitchens. But in her experience, the energy of the kitchen during the feast was one of safety and comfort.
“I think that’s part of the beauty of getting Native chefs together,” she said. “It’s just a different feeling because the culture is different. It’s supportive.”
Holt helped plate a dessert of sweet potato doughnut holes and wild rice flan with berries designed by chef Kineen. She admired the dessert, which was light, refreshing and left her sweet tooth fulfilled without over indulging. Each portion of flan was topped with crisp, fresh berries and a nut mixture for crunch. The dessert was her favorite dish of the evening and left her thinking about how important it is to have Indigenous foods in the culinary world.
“When we think of culinary arts, it’s always based around the world and it’s taught in French,” she said. “I think it’s important for young aspiring chefs to have that representation to not only have representation as an Indigenous chef but also cooking Indigenous food.”
Cooking with leadership
Audible gasps and sounds of approval were heard as waitstaff brought out the plates with the main course designed by Next Level Chef winner, chef Despain. The hearty smell of bison tenderloin with an aromatic cacao-coffee rub and pan-seared salmon with poblano-pecan sauce, roasted golden chanterelles topped with fried sweet potato strings wafted through the entire dining room.
The bison steaks, which were perfectly crisp on the outside, were cooked to perfection as guests cut into them. Juices ran throughout the steaks and the salmon was cooked with minimal seasoning which made it feel fresh and natural. The poblano-pecan sauce was spicy and created a new sensation on the tongue that wasn’t felt in the previous courses that night.
For Wero, getting to work on the main course with chef Despain was his highlight of the night.
“It was just really unique, just working with her, just the collaboration style,” he said.
As chef Despain started the poblano sauce she explained to Wero what she was doing each step of the way and asked him to taste as they went along, getting his input and feedback. As Wero honed in on every flavor, he and chef Despain both thought the sauce needed more salt and a little more acidity. In his cooking with chef Despain, Wero said his confidence grew and changed the course of his career. Before the feast, Wero wasn’t sure which direction he wanted to take his career in but after that dinner, Wero knew he wanted to focus on Indigenous cuisine.
“It gave me a sense of pride because I was surrounded by people that had just as much passion as I did about food and knowing where they came from and having a Native background it’s inspiring,” Wero said. “If I work hard enough I’ll be joining them eventually in an event.”
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