Sean Sherman: Why aren't there more Native American restaurants? | TED

241,393 views ・ 2021-07-30

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Transcriber:
0
0
7000
00:14
Hi there, my name is Sean Sherman,
1
14287
1917
00:16
I am a chef.
2
16246
1250
00:17
Unfortunately, I don't have food for you guys tonight.
3
17538
2833
00:20
Food for thought, I guess, maybe.
4
20413
2541
00:22
I'm here to talk about Native American food.
5
22996
2458
00:26
I was born and raised in Pine Ridge in South Dakota,
6
26329
3125
00:29
and our focus are on Indigenous foods.
7
29496
3375
00:32
And, you know, it's been a really interesting journey so far.
8
32913
3125
00:36
I started my company called The Sioux Chef --
9
36079
2125
00:38
S-I-O-U-X, a little play on words --
10
38246
2792
00:41
back in 2014.
11
41079
1459
00:42
But it had come from quite a few years of trying to research and understand
12
42579
3542
00:46
because I kind of grew up in restaurants.
13
46162
2042
00:48
I grew up in Pine Ridge.
14
48246
1416
00:49
I grew up in Spearfish and in South Dakota in the Black Hills.
15
49704
3958
00:53
And I started working a lot of touristy restaurants.
16
53704
2458
00:56
And, you know, I had just a long career.
17
56204
2625
00:58
All through high school and college, I worked restaurants.
18
58871
2791
01:01
After college, I moved to Minneapolis.
19
61704
1875
01:03
I became a chef at a young age in the city.
20
63621
2041
01:05
And I'd just been cheffing for a long time.
21
65704
2042
01:07
And a few years into my chef career,
22
67787
1792
01:09
I realized the complete absence of Indigenous foods.
23
69621
2458
01:12
And even for myself, I realized that I couldn't even name --
24
72121
3625
01:15
I could name less than a handful of Lakota recipes that were truly Lakota,
25
75787
3834
01:19
things without cream of mushroom soup in it, right?
26
79663
2416
01:22
(Laughter)
27
82121
1000
01:23
So I was really trying --
28
83163
1625
01:24
It, you know, put me on a path to try and understand what happened,
29
84829
3167
01:28
like where are all the Native American foods at, you know?
30
88038
2750
01:30
And so it's been really interesting.
31
90788
1750
01:32
So Indigenous foods, that shouldn't be --
32
92579
2167
01:34
there shouldn't be a big question mark, you know,
33
94788
2291
01:37
we should know about it,
34
97121
1292
01:38
because no matter where we are in North America, we're --
35
98454
2875
01:41
you know, North America obviously begins,
36
101371
1958
01:43
all of its history begins with Indigenous history, right?
37
103371
3000
01:46
And no matter where we are, we're standing on indigenous land.
38
106413
3583
01:50
And so we should have a really good, strong sense of Native American food
39
110038
4041
01:54
because it's just the land that we're on.
40
114121
1958
01:56
It's just the history of the land that we're on.
41
116121
2250
01:58
So for us, it became more than just serving foods.
42
118413
2708
02:01
It really became talking about it and talking about why it isn't here.
43
121163
3625
02:04
And I think it's a really important story for us to know.
44
124829
2709
02:07
And it's also really important to see
45
127538
1791
02:09
the benefit of why understanding Indigenous foods
46
129371
2333
02:11
could really help all of us in the future.
47
131746
2750
02:14
So, you know, but where are all the Native American restaurants?
48
134538
3000
02:17
We live in a world today, you know, where we have --
49
137579
2584
02:20
as the US, we’re like food capitals of the world, right?
50
140204
2625
02:22
We have some of the best restaurants in New York City, in Chicago and LA,
51
142829
5000
02:27
and zero Indigenous restaurants
52
147871
1708
02:29
that are focused on the land that they're sitting on,
53
149621
2500
02:32
which is kind of insane.
54
152163
1250
02:33
You can have every other restaurants -- and Indian restaurants don't count,
55
153454
3542
02:37
because that was my only choice on Facebook,
56
157038
2291
02:39
because when I was trying to decide how to describe our restaurant --
57
159371
3625
02:43
is it Indian or is it new American or old American?
58
163038
3833
02:46
But anyways, so what we've done is like we tried to focus on, first off,
59
166913
4208
02:51
just understanding what were precontact foods, precolonial foods.
60
171163
3250
02:54
And I realized that that term didn't even really make a lot of sense to people.
61
174454
4500
02:58
So I think it's really important to go through the storyline
62
178996
2833
03:01
because to understand colonial or what is a precolonial food,
63
181871
2875
03:04
you have to understand colonialism itself.
64
184746
2042
03:06
And to understand colonialism, the easiest way is just to Google it.
65
186829
5125
03:11
So if you Google the word "colonialism,"
66
191996
2917
03:14
you'll get a definition, "it's a policy or practice
67
194954
2542
03:17
of acquiring full or partial political control over another country,
68
197538
3541
03:21
occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically."
69
201121
3917
03:25
And this is something that's happened not uniquely here.
70
205079
2625
03:27
It's happened all across the globe.
71
207746
2292
03:30
So all over the Americas, North and South, all over Africa,
72
210079
4084
03:34
all over India, all over Southeast Asia,
73
214204
2000
03:36
Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, you name it,
74
216246
2417
03:38
like this has been a very common history
75
218704
1917
03:40
for a lot of areas around the globe.
76
220663
2541
03:43
For the US, which is our focus,
77
223246
1667
03:44
because we're right here smack dab in the middle of the United States,
78
224954
3542
03:48
it's really important to understand the history
79
228538
2250
03:50
because the US did a really good job of smudging its history a little bit.
80
230829
3875
03:54
So if you're going through high school,
81
234746
1875
03:56
the history you get on Indigenous peoples probably isn't the best history.
82
236663
3500
04:00
So you really should read a little bit more about what really happened.
83
240204
3334
04:03
So let's start with Manifest Destiny,
84
243579
2584
04:06
which is really kind of something that was born from the idea
85
246204
3542
04:09
of what was originally doctrine of discovery,
86
249788
2125
04:11
which basically gave European powers their own rights to say,
87
251954
3000
04:14
if we discover it, then we own it.
88
254996
1750
04:16
Right? But that policy doesn't really work that well,
89
256788
2875
04:19
because if you go into an Apple Store and you discover a brand new MacBook,
90
259704
4125
04:23
most likely you're not going to have the rights to walk out the door with it.
91
263871
3708
04:27
But a lot of our policies and a lot of --
92
267621
2333
04:29
like, our country was built on this notion
93
269996
3042
04:33
that we just have this right to everything, right?
94
273079
2709
04:35
And people have to remember how young our history is.
95
275829
3042
04:38
We're such a young country, you know?
96
278913
1791
04:40
There's like, barely any time has passed.
97
280746
1958
04:42
So just go back a couple hundred years
98
282746
2083
04:44
and, like, start with 1800s.
99
284871
2583
04:47
So in 1800, the United States is still not much more
100
287496
3500
04:51
than just the 13 colonies at that point in history.
101
291038
2791
04:53
And it’s the 1800s that are the most deadly century for Indigenous peoples.
102
293871
5875
04:59
So a lot of really bad things happened during this time period,
103
299788
3250
05:03
because in 1800, in reality,
104
303079
2417
05:05
almost all of what is the US is still completely occupied
105
305538
2708
05:08
by Indigenous peoples and communities
106
308288
1833
05:10
and a huge diversity of them across the board.
107
310163
2791
05:12
Even despite European powers having big land claims, you know,
108
312996
3333
05:16
France has a big section and Spain's got big chunks
109
316371
3000
05:19
and England is holding on to chunks and Russia is coming in
110
319413
3208
05:22
and there's all sorts of just big land grabs happening.
111
322663
3166
05:25
But in reality, it's the Indigenous communities
112
325871
2208
05:28
that have always been there.
113
328121
1375
05:29
But this century is a mass century of change, you know.
114
329538
2666
05:32
So during this time period, things move really fast.
115
332246
4417
05:36
So this is just a really tough time.
116
336704
2209
05:38
And for me, this is like my great-grandfather's era
117
338954
2709
05:41
because my great-grandfather was born in the late 1850s
118
341704
3000
05:44
and during his lifetime, he sees so much change so quickly,
119
344746
3333
05:48
he sees so many battles between the Lakota and the US government.
120
348121
3167
05:51
He sees the Battle of Little Bighorn when he's 18 years old,
121
351329
3542
05:54
during the battle on the Lakota side.
122
354913
2333
05:57
He sees his kids having to go to boarding school, cut their hair,
123
357288
3083
06:00
learn to speak English, learn Christianity.
124
360371
2375
06:02
He sees his children --
125
362788
3083
06:05
some of his children even grow up to fight for the US government.
126
365913
3083
06:09
So it's such a crazy amount of change to see in one single lifetime, right?
127
369038
3916
06:13
And during this time period, people are getting pushed around.
128
373829
3167
06:17
At the beginning of that century,
129
377038
1583
06:18
over 80 percent of that landmass was under Indigenous control.
130
378663
3166
06:21
And by the end of the century less than two percent,
131
381871
2500
06:24
only because of the reservation systems.
132
384413
1916
06:26
And this is all just part of the story
133
386371
1833
06:28
of why there aren't Native American restaurants,
134
388246
2250
06:30
because we just went through a really traumatic time in history
135
390538
3000
06:33
where we're still -- we haven't even had the time to heal yet,
136
393579
3125
06:36
let alone evolve, right, when it comes down to all this.
137
396746
3500
06:40
So the US history, you know,
138
400288
2166
06:42
there's a lot of these big movements like the Indian Removal Act of 1830,
139
402496
4208
06:46
the Homestead Act of 1862,
140
406746
2375
06:49
the Indian Appropriation Act
141
409163
1458
06:50
that basically said we're wards the states,
142
410663
2583
06:53
that we're not our own entities anymore,
143
413288
2666
06:55
the Dawes Act of 1887.
144
415996
2583
06:58
And all these pieces were very focused
145
418621
2042
07:00
and the government was really, really good at what they did, you know.
146
420704
4792
07:05
And it all starts with taking our food away from us.
147
425538
2708
07:08
So the loss of Indigenous food
148
428288
1500
07:09
is something that starts from the very beginning.
149
429829
2292
07:12
George Washington, one of his very first things that he does
150
432163
3500
07:15
is send General Sullivan out to push all the native people outside of the US.
151
435704
4667
07:20
He wanted them captured. He wanted them brought back.
152
440413
3458
07:23
And they went on this march that lasts a single summer
153
443913
2541
07:26
and does just that.
154
446496
1250
07:27
So after a single summer,
155
447788
1291
07:29
there's no more native people in all of that New York area,
156
449121
2833
07:31
from D.C. all the way up, basically.
157
451996
2208
07:34
And they named George Washington
158
454829
2375
07:37
the president.
159
457246
1250
07:38
They gave the name for a US president: Town Destroyer,
160
458538
2541
07:41
which is still the name that they use today
161
461121
2042
07:43
because he just devastated a whole area.
162
463204
3084
07:46
And this is the precedent that gets set
163
466329
3042
07:49
for how the US government treats the Indigenous peoples
164
469413
2666
07:52
throughout the next century, basically.
165
472121
2292
07:54
So here, in our area, the very systematic destruction of bison,
166
474454
5709
08:00
which they knew would hurt a lot of people, and it did.
167
480204
2917
08:03
And by the end of the century, there was less than 500 on the planet.
168
483163
3625
08:06
And it was very purposeful. So ...
169
486829
2459
08:09
But I think what's most damaging for us
170
489329
2000
08:11
and why we don't have a lot of Indigenous restaurants out there
171
491371
3000
08:14
was the loss of our education,
172
494413
1625
08:16
because this whole generation,
173
496079
1459
08:17
like my great-grandfather's generation
174
497579
1834
08:19
and my grandfather's generation especially,
175
499454
2042
08:21
like, those generations should have been getting
176
501538
2250
08:23
the full extent of Indigenous education.
177
503829
1917
08:25
They should have been learning everything their ancestors intended them to learn.
178
505788
3833
08:29
How to fish, how to hunt, how to gather, how to identify plants,
179
509663
3000
08:32
how to live sustainably, utilising plants and animals around us.
180
512704
3542
08:36
But instead, we went through a really intense assimilation period
181
516288
3666
08:39
where we basically, you know,
182
519996
1833
08:41
the boarding school systems
183
521871
1375
08:43
stripped this whole generation of all that knowledge and education.
184
523288
3791
08:47
And it became very traumatic
185
527121
1375
08:48
because this was not a fun situation for these kids to go through.
186
528537
3500
08:52
This was a military-style school and they popped up all over the US,
187
532079
3917
08:56
all over Canada.
188
536037
1750
08:57
These kids being again forced to speak different languages,
189
537829
3417
09:01
forced to learn new religions,
190
541287
2500
09:03
forced to learn skills that had nothing to do with them.
191
543829
2625
09:06
And being forced to is the situation.
192
546496
3041
09:09
You know, a lot of these kids perished.
193
549579
1875
09:11
We shouldn't have to worry about sending kids to school
194
551496
2583
09:14
to see if they'll survive or not.
195
554121
1583
09:15
But this was a very harsh situation for kids to go through.
196
555746
2791
09:18
And they went through physical abuse, sexual abuse.
197
558579
2458
09:21
They went through mental abuse.
198
561079
1500
09:22
And we're still reeling from that in our communities today
199
562621
2750
09:25
because of this direct link to the trauma that happened there.
200
565412
2959
09:28
And being Indigenous in the 1900s wasn't much better.
201
568412
2500
09:30
My grandparents were born before they were even citizens,
202
570954
2708
09:33
which doesn't happen until 1924.
203
573704
1625
09:35
And then in the 40s and 60s,
204
575371
1375
09:36
the US government started dismantling a lot of tribes.
205
576787
3042
09:39
So over 100 tribes got dismantled
206
579871
2458
09:42
so they could continue to take over more land spaces.
207
582371
2791
09:45
We couldn't vote until 1965.
208
585204
3292
09:48
We couldn't celebrate religions until '78, you know.
209
588537
3500
09:52
So what does it look like for me growing up in this?
210
592079
2458
09:54
I was born in the mid-70s and growing up in postcolonial America.
211
594579
3458
09:58
Like, what kind of foods was I eating?
212
598079
2167
10:00
And I get asked that a lot
213
600287
1917
10:02
because people in the media are always like,
214
602246
2666
10:04
"You're native, like what kind of foods did you grow up with?"
215
604954
2917
10:07
Because they want to hear a cool story like, "I'd get up in the morning,
216
607871
3458
10:11
take down an elk with a slingshot, we'd have a big family feast."
217
611371
3083
10:14
But that wasn't the reality,
218
614496
1375
10:15
because like I grew up with the Commodity Food Program
219
615912
2542
10:18
because we were poor, like a lot of people on the reservation.
220
618496
2916
10:21
And we didn't even have the pretty cans when I was growing up.
221
621454
2917
10:24
We just had, you know, these black and white cans, beef with juices.
222
624412
4000
10:28
And that's dinner, you know, and that sucks. So ...
223
628454
3250
10:31
And Indian tacos, you know, even when I was a kid, I was like,
224
631746
2958
10:34
why does our Lakota food taste like Mexican food?
225
634746
2750
10:37
It didn't even make sense to me at the time.
226
637537
2667
10:40
Because we could do better than this.
227
640246
1791
10:42
There's so much more to learn and more to offer with indigenous foods.
228
642079
3917
10:46
So it’s really important to understand what Indigenous foods are.
229
646037
3125
10:49
But first, you have to understand just like how diverse our nation is.
230
649204
3292
10:52
We're so diverse, there's all sorts of plants and animals out there.
231
652537
3209
10:55
And when you layer Indigenous peoples on it,
232
655787
2084
10:57
you can see so much amazing diversity, you know?
233
657912
2292
11:00
This is a language map.
234
660246
1250
11:01
So just look at all those huge color blocks
235
661537
2084
11:03
and within those color blocks
236
663662
1417
11:05
there's all sorts of diversity within those two, right?
237
665121
2625
11:07
Still today, we have 634 tribes in Canada,
238
667787
3334
11:11
573 in the US and 20 percent of Mexico identifies as Indigenous.
239
671162
4709
11:15
So there's an immense amount of indigeneity out there today
240
675912
2834
11:18
and we should be celebrating that diversity because it's awesome.
241
678787
3084
11:21
You know, just compare colonial settler states to Indigenous territories
242
681912
3417
11:25
and you can see that diversity.
243
685329
1500
11:26
It should change everywhere we go.
244
686871
1625
11:28
You know, the US, the food system
245
688496
1583
11:30
shouldn't just be hamburgers across the board,
246
690121
2166
11:32
or in Canada shouldn't just be poutine.
247
692329
1875
11:34
We could do so much better describing our foods, right?
248
694246
3041
11:37
And so we have to really focus on Indigenous education
249
697329
3083
11:40
because it's important for us to learn.
250
700454
2083
11:42
So when we're looking at Indigenous education,
251
702579
2167
11:44
it's a study of all these pieces, wild food, permaculture,
252
704787
3125
11:47
native agriculture, seed saving, seasonal lifestyles, ethno-oceanography,
253
707954
4250
11:52
hunting, fishing, whole animal butchery,
254
712246
2875
11:55
mycology, salt, sugar and fat productions,
255
715162
2750
11:57
crafting, land stewardship, cooking, metallurgy, Indigenous history,
256
717954
5083
12:03
traditional medicines, food preservation, fermentation, nutrition, health,
257
723079
3708
12:06
spirituality, gender roles, sustainability --
258
726829
2583
12:09
all of that stuff is this really important education
259
729454
3083
12:12
that we need to learn, you know.
260
732579
1750
12:14
So let's just break down some foods real quick.
261
734371
2208
12:16
Proteins are easy.
262
736621
1250
12:17
We learn about how natives were able to use every single part of a bison.
263
737912
3459
12:21
But that's just because we didn't have the privilege to be wasteful.
264
741412
3209
12:24
We figured out how to be resourceful with everything that we had
265
744662
3000
12:27
and we treated everything like that.
266
747704
1792
12:29
But basically, anything moving around is literally game.
267
749537
2667
12:32
And we cut out beef, pork and chicken because those animals didn't exist here.
268
752246
3708
12:35
And there are other animals to eat out there that aren't those three.
269
755996
3291
12:39
So there's just a ton of stuff out there.
270
759329
2000
12:41
And you shouldn't be afraid of something if it's not a cow, a pig or a chicken
271
761371
3708
12:45
because there's a lot of cool foods out there, and even insects,
272
765121
3041
12:48
it's so normal in so many parts of the world
273
768204
2125
12:50
and it was normal here, too.
274
770371
1375
12:51
But for us, our biggest love is plant knowledge
275
771787
2250
12:54
because you start to learn the plants around us,
276
774079
2250
12:56
you just see food and medicine everywhere.
277
776371
2041
12:58
The Western diet has never really taken the time
278
778454
2250
13:00
to learn this amazing biology that surround us
279
780746
2166
13:02
and all these plants all around us.
280
782954
1708
13:04
Because there's so much to learn.
281
784704
1625
13:06
There's all sorts of staples out there, like the timpsula,
282
786371
2791
13:09
which is the prairie turnip which grows around these plains.
283
789204
2875
13:12
Camas root from the Pacific Northwest, wild rice from the Great Lakes,
284
792121
3375
13:15
even just seaweed out there in the oceans,
285
795537
2334
13:17
which a lot of families were utilizing,
286
797912
2334
13:20
or in the deserts where all the plants look like
287
800287
2250
13:22
they want to hurt you or maim you.
288
802579
1667
13:24
The Indigenous peoples knew how to live with them.
289
804287
2375
13:26
And another piece like the domesticated piece,
290
806704
2167
13:28
with all the agriculture, it's really important,
291
808912
2292
13:31
because we think of this as agriculture but we know how damaging this is.
292
811246
3791
13:35
And it's scary when you see headlines like, "What should we do
293
815079
2958
13:38
if glyphosate was found in our Cheerios?"
294
818079
2000
13:40
You guys should be really scared about that.
295
820121
2083
13:42
That stuff's really nasty, you know.
296
822246
2083
13:44
But it's just amazing to learn about Indigenous agriculture
297
824371
3166
13:47
because it goes back so far
298
827579
1375
13:48
and people figured out all sorts of ways to farm
299
828996
2291
13:51
and build sustained, huge civilisations,
300
831329
3042
13:54
whether they're in the middle of the desert,
301
834412
2125
13:56
whether they're on the coastal regions, or way up here in the Dakotas.
302
836579
3792
14:00
People were able to farm amazing things
303
840412
1917
14:02
that had an amazing amount of diversity that we need to protect.
304
842371
3416
14:05
We are the stewards of what's left of this diversity.
305
845829
3333
14:09
And a lot of it got wiped off the map
306
849204
1792
14:11
in the 1800s with all that colonialism that was going on.
307
851037
2792
14:13
So we have to be understanding so we can protect these for the next generation
308
853871
3916
14:17
because these could disappear if we don't do anything about it.
309
857829
3042
14:20
So it's really important to understand that.
310
860912
2084
14:23
So to use Indigenous knowledge in today's world,
311
863037
3417
14:26
it's just important to open up your eyes, you know, stop calling everything a weed
312
866496
3916
14:30
because that just means you don't know what it is.
313
870454
2375
14:32
You know, our kids can name more K-Pop bands than they can trees
314
872871
3166
14:36
and that's your fault, you know?
315
876079
1625
14:37
(Laughter)
316
877746
1041
14:38
We need to teach them things that are important.
317
878829
2292
14:41
Because, like, just look around.
318
881162
1584
14:42
There's food everywhere and we should be making pantries,
319
882787
2750
14:45
like our grandparents did, and our great-grandparents.
320
885579
2583
14:48
They just used the food that was around us.
321
888204
2125
14:50
So we should just be making our own pantries
322
890371
2416
14:52
that tastes like where we are,
323
892829
1458
14:54
what makes us unique in our own region.
324
894329
2208
14:56
And that's why we should have Native American food restaurants
325
896579
2958
14:59
all over the nation, run by Indigenous peoples.
326
899579
3042
15:02
There's so much to explore.
327
902662
1334
15:04
There's so much flavor. There's so much health.
328
904037
2209
15:06
And it's just super healthy, you know,
329
906287
1834
15:08
and it's fun for chefs to create and play with all these flavors.
330
908162
3084
15:11
Chefs should be really excited about getting to learn all of these plants
331
911287
3459
15:14
that aren't in their diet
332
914787
1292
15:16
because they're just going out of a French cookbook.
333
916121
2458
15:18
And for us, we just want to get this food back into tribal communities especially,
334
918621
3875
15:22
and make people healthy and happy and break a lot of the cycle of, you know,
335
922537
4000
15:26
government reliance on food
336
926579
1500
15:28
and huge rates of type 2 diabetes and obesity and heart disease
337
928121
3625
15:31
because of this low nutritional food base
338
931787
2375
15:34
that the government's been feeding us for too long.
339
934204
2833
15:37
And we just need to think about how we can adjust
340
937079
2292
15:39
and make a better lifestyle.
341
939412
1375
15:40
We need to use our land spaces better.
342
940829
2208
15:43
Lawns are fucking stupid.
343
943079
1708
15:44
(Laughter)
344
944829
1000
15:45
We need to really do something better.
345
945871
1875
15:47
We could just be growing food out there, you know?
346
947787
2625
15:50
We could just be putting food plants everywhere.
347
950454
2250
15:52
We need more community gardens, more permacultural landscapes.
348
952746
3500
15:56
It's that easy.
349
956287
1292
15:57
If we can grow 30 golf courses
350
957621
1916
15:59
in Palm Springs in the middle of the desert,
351
959579
2125
16:01
just think what we could do if we just did that for good
352
961746
2625
16:04
and just put food everywhere, you know?
353
964412
2625
16:07
An organic food, food that wants to grow in that certain region.
354
967079
3250
16:10
So, you know, Indigenous diet
355
970371
2541
16:12
is really the most ideal diet.
356
972954
2083
16:15
It's healthy fats.
357
975079
1250
16:16
It's diverse proteins, it's low carbs, it's low salt.
358
976371
2791
16:19
It's a ton of plant diversity. It's organic agriculture.
359
979204
3667
16:22
It's celebrating cultural and regional diversity.
360
982912
3417
16:26
And it's seasonal.
361
986371
1333
16:27
It's just really good.
362
987746
1250
16:29
It's like what the paleo diet wishes it was,
363
989037
2250
16:31
when it comes down to it,
364
991329
1292
16:32
because that just makes sense, you know, and we need to protect this.
365
992662
3375
16:36
We need to get this out there.
366
996079
1458
16:37
And again, it's not unique here.
367
997579
1583
16:39
There's Indigenous peoples all around the world
368
999204
2208
16:41
and there's an Indigenous knowledge base
369
1001454
1958
16:43
that's basically untapped because of the colonial structure
370
1003454
2792
16:46
that's been put everywhere.
371
1006287
1542
16:47
We need to be protecting people in Africa and India
372
1007871
3041
16:50
and Southeast Asia and Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii,
373
1010954
3250
16:54
South America, North America.
374
1014246
1708
16:55
We need to protect those.
375
1015996
1291
16:57
We need to be celebrating diversity
376
1017329
1708
16:59
instead of trying to build stupid walls to keep people out.
377
1019079
2792
17:01
We need to have, you know, healthy food access,
378
1021912
2625
17:04
cultural food producers,
379
1024579
1375
17:05
regional food systems, local control of food systems,
380
1025996
3666
17:09
not governmental control,
381
1029704
1750
17:11
access to Indigenous education and environmental protections
382
1031496
3291
17:14
to protect a lot of this natural food that surround us.
383
1034829
2875
17:17
We need to be better connected to our nature around us
384
1037746
2917
17:20
and really, truly understand how it's a symbiotic relationship.
385
1040704
3625
17:24
We're not above it, right?
386
1044371
1833
17:26
If we can control our food, we can control our future.
387
1046246
3250
17:29
And for us, it's an exciting time to be Indigenous
388
1049538
2750
17:32
because we are taking all of these lessons from our ancestors
389
1052329
3584
17:35
that should have been passed down to us,
390
1055954
1959
17:37
relearning them and utilizing the world today
391
1057954
2292
17:40
with everything it has to offer
392
1060288
1500
17:41
and becoming something different.
393
1061829
1625
17:43
We're at the stage where we're ready to evolve.
394
1063496
2500
17:46
This is an Indigenous evolution and revolution at the same time.
395
1066038
5375
17:51
So I hope someday that you can drive across this nation,
396
1071454
4125
17:55
stop at Indigenous-run food businesses
397
1075621
2333
17:57
and see this amazing amount of diversity out there
398
1077996
3000
18:01
and just think about it, you know.
399
1081038
1791
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7