Judy: The pandemic took a
particularly heavy toll on
restaurants.
With tens of thousands shutting
their doors for good.
Special correspondent Fred
visited one unusual
establishment looking the trend
and reviving native American
food traditions that disappeared
after European settlement in
North America.
It is part of Fred's series,
agents fir for change --
agents for change.
>> The city of annapolis has its
roots in flour mil.
A new centerpiece of this
historic district is a
enterprise with a different take
on that history.
>> There was an important
village here on this side of the
river where the restaurant sets.
For us it is an active
reclamation because we were able
to bring the true namesake of
this space back.
>> That namesake is a restaurant
, swirling water in the coda
language -- in the Dakota
language.
For Sherman and his life and
work partner Dana Thompson, the
restaurant opening was timely.
Broadening the conversation
about racial equity in a city
still recovering in the
aftermath of George Floyd's
murder.
>> The fact it happened during a
pandemic after the uprising and
all of the different letters of
complexity, it has been a really
important place to heal, to have
space to have these really hard
conversations about race and
culture and food and equity and
sustainability.
>> The more immediate
conversation however has been
about the food.
>> Amazing flavors.
>> That is amazing.
>> All of them are precolonial.
No chicken, no pork, no dairy
and in city that calls itself
the mill city, no wheat.
>> We are trying to keep it
really simple.
>> Sherman says his recipes
combined simple flavors and
texture.
Rabbit on a bed of kale.
Venison tartar.
Simple perhaps but good enough
to earn a nomination for best
new restaurant from the James
beard foundation.
From patrons we spoke with said
thumbs up.
>> It is naturally gluten-free
and dairy free and the food was
absolutely spectacular.
>> I am excited about native
people reclaiming their heritage
and sharing it with us because
we have a lot to learn from the
people who were here before us.
>> Or relearn says Matthew, a
diner from California.
>> In Los Angeles we have been
so removed from our ability to
have our indigenous foods that
we cannot have a meal like this.
>> He is a biologist for the
band of mission Indians and at
Los Angeles basin area and was
thrilled to see things like corn
that has been treated in an
alkaline solution.
>> It is a process our tribe did
for thousands of years.
Within grains such as acorns,
corn, they have a layer that
needs to be removed so in order
for this product to be
nutritious, you have to remove
that.
Every tribe had this component.
>> Far cry from conditions
across Indian country today says
Sherman.
>> Our focus is indigenous
communities.
Some of these communities can
have upwards of 60% type two
diabetes because of the
nutritional access around foods.
>> The latest chapter for
Thompson whose heritage is
Dakota and Sherman who is left
hotel and their sous chef
enterprise.
His cookbook won a James beard
award in 2018.
They run a nonprofit that
includes the indigenous food lab
providing education and
training.
Where ever possible, they source
from and help create new tribal
suppliers.
>> All of our bison is coming
out of Cheyenne river and we are
getting a lot of fish from the
northern tribes like red clay
and redcliff.
We are trying to create demand.
>> We are continuing to build
them up your that is a core part
of our nonprofit is acting as a
nonprofit generator.
>> Indigenous people are in the
majority.
Darrell Montana moved here from
Los Angeles and is surely to
train at the nonprofit.
Then he was offered a job here.
>> I basically packed up
everything and moved to
Minneapolis for this unique and
exciting opportunity.
>> What do you see yourself
doing in 10 or 20 years?
>> I would like to keep
spreading the word about our
indigenous meals and chefs and
cooking going back to what our
forefathers grew up on.
What they foraged, what they
hunted, how it was 100 times
healthier than what they are
eating now, processed.
Just unhealthy food.
>> Eddy lone eagle is another
alumnus of the indigenous food
lab.
>> From red lake, Minnesota.
I always wanted to make
indigenous food.
Cooking with pride.
>> Alexa whose heritage includes
Shawnee and Paul Paul is the
events manager.
>> Bringing my grandmother up
from Oklahoma happened a few
months ago.
I watched her cry when she was
eating one of the dishes.
She was like this reminds me of
when I was a child.
>> Where sitting a 4 -- setting
forth a path of how we can
steward indigenous knowledge and
practice it in real time and be
a role model.
Doing it through something as
simple -- I would not say simple
but something like a restaurant
which is far from simple.
>> It is a heavy lift.
New restaurants like most small
businesses have a high failure
rate should so far, so good say
Thompson and Sherman.
Has not been a day since opening
last July they have not fully
booked.
For the pbs newshour,