Toasted Sister Podcast

Donell Barlow (Ottawa), certified holistic health coach, was raised on processed food and meatloaf. But now, she’s focused on Indigenous food, urban Native youth and updating her sleeve of tattoos. She’s the host of Dance Jam Kitchen and creator of one of my favorite meatloaf recipes.

E7: Brian Yazzie — “Constantly working” When you love something, it consumes you. When asked what he does outside of the kitchen, Brian Yazzie (Diné), chef de cuisine at The Sioux Chef, said he’s thinking about being the kitchen. In this episode, Brian talks about becoming a chef, decolonizing his cooking and what’s next for him and The Sioux Chef crew.

In this podcast extra, I talk with David Manuel (Anishinaabe), foods coordinator for the Red Lake Food Initiative. He's been busy tapping maple trees for that sweet, sweet sap. He's also a beekeeper.

Dr. Elizabeth Hoover (Mohawk and Mi’kmaq) travels around asking Native people what their definition of food sovereignty is. It’s actually a great many things to different tribes. Native communities lost certain parts, or all of their food sovereignty, but the people are starting to take steps to revitalize their own definitions of food sovereignty.

Seeds carry tribal stories, history and nourishment for Native bodies. That’s why seeds are crucial to Indigenous food sovereignty. Rowen White (Akwesasne Mohawk), seed keeper, founder and director of Sierra Seeds Cooperative and national project coordinator for the Indigenous Seed Keepers Network, is out to plant a new crop of Native seed stewards.

Once, Monica Braine (Assiniboine, Hunkpapa Lakota) ate a whole large pizza by herself. She has an eating disorder and she’s on a journey to love food. We don’t often talk about this side of food where it creates a hellish nightmare for those struggling with food addiction. But in this episode, Monica, a Native journalist, talks about the struggle to take control and treat her disorder.

He learned classical French cooking from the best and became an esteemed chef. These days, humble chef, Nephi Craig (White Mountain Apache, Diné), is between kitchens and looking to truly feed his Native community by starting up a new cafe on the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona. In this episode, I talk with Craig about the resurgence of Native food, decolonization and breaking away from the mainstream food and wine culture.

With no Indigenous teachers or elders to learn about traditional foods from, Andrea Murdoch largely taught herself. And now, she can’t stop the learning process. She’s trained in pastry arts, but crossed over to full-on Indigenous food. Murdoch, Indigenous from the Andes, is the creator and owner of Four Directions MKE in Wisconsin (soon to move to Colorado).

The Toasted Sister Podcast is radio about Native American food because it has come a long way. Traditional, indigenous foodways were lost, found, redefined and modernized in the last few hundred years. And here it is today, in the hands of Native chefs and foodies who work to keep their traditional flavors and ingredients alive. In this first episode, I talk with chef Karlos Baca (Tewa, Diné, Ute) about foraging, being a judgy eater and how Native food and people are defined in mainstream media. Check out Taste of Native Cuisine on Facebook.