In this episode, I visit Spirit Lake Native Farms in Minnesota and one of its owners, Bruce Savage (Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe), for a tour through the wild rice processing plant. Included in this episode is a short ASMR session that’ll make you tingle. Tour photos are at ToastedSisterPodcast.com Mentioned: Bruce’s email address spiritlakesugar@yahoo.com Natives on a Budget Podcast: http://nativesonabudget.com/
In this special episode I talk with Benjamin Shendo (Cochiti and Jemez Pueblo) and Linus Yellowhorse (Tohono O’odham) from Gatherings Cafe at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. They’re a couple of chill dudes who just fell into the kitchen and turned a job into a passion for feeding Indigenous food to Minneapolis’ Native community. Vote for "Toasted Sister Podcast” in the Innovator category of the Local Hero Awards by Edible New Mexico magazine! https://www.ediblenm.com/local-hero-awards/ "...
In this episode I talk with Donell Barlow (Ottawa) about her new book, “Bigfoot and Lightning Bug,” a children’s book about Bigfoot and the environment. Donell is a chef, certified holistic health coach and the author of “Medicine Tracks: A Memoir.” Mentioned: “Ancestral guided wellness: A way of life for our ancestors, a movement that could heal our bodies and the planet” by Donell Barlow in Indian Country Today Books mentioned: “Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultu...
Alien Weaponry is a three-piece thrash metal band from New Zealand. The band members, Lewis de Jong (Maori), Henry de Jong (Maori) and Bobby Oblak (substitute bassist for Ethan Trembath), join me in the studio to talk about their U.S tour, the Indigenous history and stories in their music and their love for the Navajo Nation. Their big Window Rock, Arizona show is on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at the Navajo Sports Center.
We made a zine about Indigenous food futurisms! It includes 24-pages of all-original work by myself, Monica Braine, junior editor of “Imminent Cuisine,” and seven other Native artists, illustrators, comic book artists, chefs and writers. In this episode, we talk about food in Indigenous futurisms and the work in the zine. Zine contributors: Elizabeth Lapensée (Anishinaabe/Metis/Irish), award-winning designer, writer, artist and researcher who creates and studies Indigenous-led media such as game...
I spoke to Cienan Muir (Yorta Yorta and Ngarrindjeri) at last year’s Indigenous Comic Con about kangaroo tail and I knew I had to collaborate with him for a future episode about Indigenous food in Australia. Well, this is the episode! While Cienan was in Albuquerque, I lured him into the studio to talk more about Indigenous foods in Australia, Native stories in pop culture and the upcoming Indigenous Comic Con Australia.
Germaine Simonson (Navajo) never operated a cash register before she took over ownership of Rocky Ridge Gas and Market, a grocery store in the middle of rural Navajo Nation, Arizona. This episode is about food entrepreneurship, making future plans and genuinely wanting to provide useful services for the Native community. Included is an interview with Jessica Stago, program director of business incubation for Change Labs. Produced with help from Alisha Murphy, my little sister and doctoral studen...
Do you know how much money you spend on food? If you’re like me, finding out that triple-digit number will make you sick. In this episode, Monica Braine (Natives on a Budget, Native America Calling) and I take a 31 Day No Eating Out Challenge that give us perspective into our spending and eating habits.
Chef Lawrence Garcia (Acoma and Navajo), executive chef at Sky City Casino, in New Mexico is skilled at making odd ingredients taste good together, which is a skill he needed for 505 Food Fights, a charitable event that brings together all kinds of chefs from Albuquerque. In this episode, I follow him and Diné chef Josh Nez through the tournament.
In this special episode I catch up with some awesome women at the 2nd Native Women’s Business Summit, a powerful event for Native women entrepreneurs to lift each other up, network and encourage business growth in Native America. The women in this episode see the importance of food in business and Native traditions. I speak with: Addie Lucero (Taos) — Dancing Butterfly Naturals Percilla Frizzell (Diné) — Sacred Generations Reyna Benteah (Zuni) — Ts’uyya Farm Kathy Sanchez (San Ildefonso) — Tewa ...
No one really likes to be told what to do especially when it comes to food. Food is culture and to be told that that’s not good enough by outsiders, well, that makes us angry. In this episode Lynn Lane (Diné), community health nutritionist, and Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz (Tewa and Chicana), chef and holistic healer, are no longer gentle Indians.
The 2018 Southwest Native American Workshop on Bats gathered a couple dozen bat researchers and biologists from federal, state and tribal entities to talk about bat conservation ahead of the spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in the Southwest. They also focused on where bats fit into Native culture. Voices in the episode: Lawrence Abeita (Isleta), wildlife biologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Dr. Ernie Valdez, research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey Dr. Mike Medrano, ch...
In this episode I talk with Brian Tatsukawa, culinary instructor at the Navajo Technical University in Crownpoint, New Mexico, and a few of his students about why a career in culinary arts is important and what challenges young students have cooking on the reservation.
I partnered up with Eater magazine to include Pueblo bread in their Guide to the Southwest. In the process of writing this article, I took a journey through some of the Pueblos in New Mexico to learn about Pueblo bread. This episode includes voices from bakers from Jemez, Taos, Zuni and Laguna Pueblos. Link to "The Wondrous Bread of the Pueblo Nations" article: https://www.eater.com/2019/1/23/18183970/zuni-bread-pueblos-new-mexico Visit the episode at ToastedSisterPodcast.com for more photos
In this episode, I talk with Curtis Basina (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians), owner of the Copper Crow Distillery in Wisconsin about stereotypes, vodka drinks and what repeal of prohibition could mean for tribes. Yes, I said “prohibition.” Did you know that up until December 2018 tribes were banned from operating distilleries on reservations? A law changed that so tribes are able to open distilleries if they want to.
For this special episode I take a road trip to El Paso, Texas where I learn more about Mexican food and the Indigenous food culture at this stretch of the border. You’ll hear from Rick Quezada, cultural preservation director at Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, Lorena Andrade, director of La Mujer Obrera and Rubi Orozco Santos, poet and public health educator. Photo: “The Equis” monument that stands over Cuidad Juárez near the border was made by Mexican sculpture Enrique Carbajal González. It symbolizes th...
Native American Natural Foods makes Tanka Bars, the first brand of bison meat bars, experienced a couple of ups and downs in business since it started in 2006. But since competition from non-Native companies swept up all the investments and money in the last couple of years, Tanka Bar is left to restructure its brand. In this episode, I talk with Mark Tilsen, president and co-founder of Native American Natural Foods. The New Food Economy article: “Bison bars were supposed to restore Native commu...
In this special episode I report from the first Southwest Intertribal Food Summit in Taos, New Mexico. It was a two-day event filled with good food and knowledge sharing between Southwest Natives who are working in the food sovereignty movement. Visit ToastedSisterPodcast.com to see photos from this trip. In the episode: Lilian Hill from Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture Institute, Terrol Dew Johnson from the Tohono O’odham Community Action group, Tiana Suazo with the Taos County Economic Development Co...
In this special episode I hand the reins over to my real sister, Alisha Murphy (Diné). She went to the World Indigenous Business Forum in New Zealand and came back with some T-shirts for our parents, some keychains for her friends and some audio for me. Alisha made some new Maori friends and naturally talked about food with them. Hey, it runs in the family.
Towana Yepa (Jemez Pueblo) comes from a family of gardeners. She’s a business woman who owns and operates her own farm called Corn Pollen Trail Farms in Ponderosa, New Mexico. In this episode, she talks about her origins, the challenges of being an Indigenous woman farmer and filling a need for fresh options in her Native community. I also talk with Tina Archuleta (Jemez Pueblo), owner of Itality: Plant Based Wellness (rapper who goes by MagmaDawta), a health food business that also fills a need...
Brit Reed (Choctaw) is a cook, culinary service provider for Tulalip Health Clinic in Washington and a member of the I-Collective. She’s sort of new to the world of Indigenous culinary arts but she’s well on her way to making changes in the Native community. In this program we talk about the role of Choctaw women and how food helps her connect to her culture as an adoptee.
In this episode, I hit the road and talk with some folks at the 6th annual Apache Harvest Festival at the Ndée Bikíyaa farm in Canyon Day, Arizona. On this show: Onah Ditzer, farm education coordinator at Ndée Bikíyaa Rachel Beauty, Apache culture intern for the Yavapai Apache Nation Shalitha Peaches, distribution manager for Ndée Bikíyaa Nephi Craig, Café Gozhóó Andrea Batty Emery Hoffman, White Mountain Apache Tribe water resources Dezeray Garcia
The non-Indigenous owners of Aloha Poke Co., a Chicago-based restaurant, trademarked the words “Aloha Poke” and became the new face of cultural and food appropriation. In this episode, Dr. Kalama Niheu (Kanaka Maoli) talks about how a long history of cultural appropriation allows for this to continue to happen to Indigenous people, the problem with paradise and how the popularity of poke took this traditional food to interesting and scary places. Also: —Native America Calling Aug. 6 episode abou...
Eric Richards (Navajo) has a business degree and originally had plans to get into the Native jewelry business. But fate took him straight to the kitchen and up the ranks. He’s the executive chef of the Twin Arrows Casino Resort near Flagstaff, Ariz. In this episode, I sit down with chef Richards at Zenith Steakhouse and we talk about the restaurant business at an Indian casino, future plans and Native American Beef. See photos from this visit at ToastedSisterPodcast.com.
If you talk with Diné chef Josh Nez for any amount of time, he’ll mention his daughters. They’re the reason why he cooks. He’ll also throw in some Navajo language translations for “corn,” “salt” or “grandma.” Nez is a cook at the Pueblo Harvest Café in Albuquerque who got his start as a dishwasher. In this episode, we talk about mutton, the first foods he ever cooked and the best way to prepare prairie dogs. Also: Utah Dine Bikeyah 4th annual Bears Ears Summer Gathering, July 20-22 Visit Toasted...
Vernon DeFoe (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) doesn’t have a glorious origin story. Like many chefs, his food journey starts at a fast food restaurant. But along the way he made a U-turn straight back to Indigenous food. He’s a chef de cuisine on The Sioux Chef team and the bassist for the crust punk band War//Plague. In this episode, Vernon talks about his great-grandmother’s cooking, what resistance looks like in the kitchen and the music of War//Plague. Links: https://warplaguepunx....
It’s Saguaro fruit harvest season and that means members of the Tohono O’odham Nation are out this weekend picking that sweet, sweet fruit from the tops of those iconic Arizona cactuses. In this episode, I talk with Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan, Ph.D student in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona and Tohono O’odham history and culture teacher at the Tohono O’odham Community College, about this centuries-old traditional harvest. Visit ToastedSisterPodcast.com for photos from Jacelle. V...
Shane Chartrand (Enoch Cree) has a particular kind of style that’s currently being projected on the interior of his new restaurant, SC Restaurant, which opens on June 12. It’s sexy, it’s casual, it’s a little upscale and it’s fun. He’s an award-winning chef who beat out some other top chefs in Canada to take home the gold from the Gold Medal Plates Edmonton competition. In this program, Chartrand talks about reconnecting to his Cree heritage, wine and his upcoming cookbook, “Marrow: Progressive ...
Kristina Stanley (Anishinaabe) is the owner of Abaaso, a plant-based food company based in Madison, Wisconsin. She’s also a member of the I-Collective (Indigenous, Inspired, Innovative, Independent Collective). For this episode, I visit Kristina in the kitchen at the Food Justice Symposium in Colorado to talk about her business, learning about Indigenous foods and being a woman in this industry. Visit ToastedSisterPodcast.com to see photos from this visit.
In this special episode I hit the road and visit a sheep camp near Shiprock, N.M. to talk with a sheep herder family and Aretta Begay (Diné), director of Diné be’iiná, or Navajo Lifeway, a non-profit group dedicated to preserving and strengthening Navajo sheep culture. Please visit toastedsisterpodcast.com and the Toasted Sister facebook page for photos from sheep camp. Also: Diné be’iiná will host their annual Sheep is Life Celebration on June 16 and 17, 2018 at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona....
