by Sean Sherman (2025)
[FROM BOOKLADY COOKS] Turtle Island is the name given to North America by many of the Indigenous nations because the world rests on the back of a turtle with 13 scales, representing 13 moons.
In Sean Sherman’s (The Sioux Chef) new cookbook, he creates recipes based on an Indigenous pantry - foods that were used before colonization by Europeans. So there is no wheat, dairy, beef, pork or white sugar to be found. But this is not simply a tribute to the past, he used these ingredients in new and creative ways.
I love that he shares his history – how he came to be a chef as well as how he developed his passion for sharing food, recipes and ingredients in order to support food sovereignty for Native communities.
“Food sovereignty emphasizes the right of people to define their own food systems, to have access to healthy and culturally appropriate foods, and to control the methods of food production and distribution.”
On our recipe list so far:
Cedar-Maple Baked Beans
Lobster Salad with Sweet Corn in Cool elderberry Broth
Venison and Tepary Bean Chili
Acorn Cakes with Blackberry Jam (or Mushrooms and Wild Mustard Pesto - or both!)
Indigenous-Inspired Shrimp 'n' Grits
[FROM THE PUBLISHERS]Turtle Island is a beautiful exploration of the delicious foods that have for millennia linked the environments, traditions, history, and cultures of the Native communities of the North American continent, with ancestral and modern Indigenous recipes from three-time James Beard Award winner Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota, founder of The Sioux Chef.
Uncover the stories behind the foods that have linked the natural environments, traditions, and histories of Indigenous peoples across North America for millennia through more than 100 ancestral and modern recipes from three-time James Beard Award-winning Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman.
"I've been completely seduced by Sean Sherman's new book. This is so much more than enticing recipes and gorgeous photos."-Robin Wall Kimmerer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry
"A collection of the stories that tell deeper truths about our country and the people who have always been here."-Jose Andres, chef and founder of World Central Kitchen
Growing up on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation, Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman understood that his people's food was rich in flavor, heritage, and connection to the land. It was in the midst of a successful restaurant career mainly cooking European cuisines that he realized the lack of understanding about Native American foodways-a revelation that sent him on a journey to learn more about how Indigenous communities have preserved and evolved their cuisines through the centuries. Now a leading figure in the Indigenous food movement, he shares in Turtle Island the unique and diverse Native foodways of North America through both traditional and modern recipes made with ingredients that have nourished Indigenous peoples physically, spiritually, and culturally for generations.
Organized by region, this book delves into the rich culinary landscapes of Turtle Island-as many Indigenous cultures call this continent. Learn to eat with the seasons, consume meat and fish nose-to-tail, focus on plant-forward dishes, and discover how to better feed yourself. Alongside delicious recipes like Smoked Bison Ribeye, Wild-Rice Crusted Walleye Cakes, Charred Rainbow Trout with Grilled Ramps, Sweet Potato Soup with Dried Venison and Chile Oil, Sunflower Seed "Risotto," and Sweet Corn Pudding with Woodland Berry Sauce (and so much more), you'll see the inspiring Indigenous food scene through Sean's eyes.
Exemplifying how Native foodways can teach us all to connect with the natural world around us, Turtle Island features rich narrative histories and spotlights the communities producing, gathering, and cooking these foods, including remarkable stories of ingenuity and adaptation that capture the resilience of Indigenous communities.
NEW HARDCOVER