Editor’s Desk: Food from the heartland

By Theodore Ross

What is the heartland, anyway? That’s a question that comes up a lot at FERN, because it cuts to the … heart … of the journalism we do on food and the environment. Our partner, Eater has just published a series on the subject, and they have a pretty smart definition:

The heartland transcends borders (and ideologies, political parties, identities, and lifestyles). But to be specific, the stories here mostly focus on Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Oklahoma … [T]his entire region was home to a patchwork of Indigenous communities long before these states were named and divided. Today, dozens of federally recognized Native American tribes live in the area, and their foodways are integral to all of the stories here.

I like to think my home in Brooklyn is as much a heartland as any, but I have to admit the good folks at Eater have a solid grasp on the issue. Particularly that last part, about the role of Indigenous communities in defining heartland cuisine, even if they have been excluded from it.

Sean Sherman’s restaurant in Minneapolis, Owamni, specializes in “decolonized” cuisine — you can listen to my interview with chef Sherman on this subject, and more, at REAP/SOW, FERN’s podcast platform. In his first article for FERN (co-written with journalist Mecca Bos), “We need more Native American restaurants,” published as part of the Eater series, he argues for a larger role for Indigenous cuisine from the heartland:

Within this core of America, dismissed by some as “flyover states,” lies a rich tapestry of culinary heritages … each with unique food traditions, including the amazing agricultural heritage of the Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa; the bison-centered foodways of the Plains tribes like the Lakota and Cheyenne; and the many cuisines of tribes forced into modern-day Oklahoma after Andrew Jackson’s racist Indian Removal Act.

Sherman also has a strong vision for what a food culture rooted in indigeneity would look like:

As a member of the Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, a chef, and a historian, I see the massive potential in harnessing, cultivating, and elevating the Indigenous culinary creativity that permeates this massive region. A broad, Native-led restaurant industry could become a huge driver of food-focused tourism. I imagine a world where we could travel across this terrain, stopping at Indigenous-focused restaurants representing the many tribes, and experiencing the true flavors of the area.

I’d like to eat in that American heartland, in Tulsa or Bozeman. But I think it’s important enough to make it all the way to my heartland, here in the Big Apple.I hope you’ll read Sean’s article, and the Eater series. Supporting work like this is why FERN exists, and we hope that you decide to be a part of it, by making a donation.