Guides: Herstory Luncheon: Influential Womxn at the Table: Pyet Despain

Pyet DeSpain

Pyet DeSpain is an award winning and global private chef. She is the first winner of Gordon Ramsay's new groundbreaking TV show, Next Level Chef, on Fox. In 2021, Pyet was named Top 25 best private chefs in Los Angeles by Entrepreneur Magazine. Her life's work is dedicated to Indigenous Fusion Cuisine, where she combines the food of her heritage - both Native American and Mexican. Pyet's passion is to uplift indigenous culture and traditions via storytelling, traveling, and cooking. Pyet is short for her inherited Native American name Pyetwetmokwe. She is a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Tribe.

(Source: Pyet's Plate)

Menu item: Three Sisters Salad (vegan)

We chose Three Sisters Salad because they beautifully represent the link between nature, community, and our health. Corn, beans, and squash were some of the first domesticated crops and they grow together harmoniously, as the cornstalks provide height for the beans to climb while squash grows low to the ground and protects the soil from evaporation and weeds. Please enjoy this important Indigenous staple meal!

The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman; Beth Dooley (Contribution by)
ISBN: 9780816699797
Publication Date: 2017-10-10
2018 James Beard Award Winner: Best American Cookbook Named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2017 by NPR, The Village Voice, Smithsonian Magazine, UPROXX, New York Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Mpls. St. PaulMagazine and others Here is real food--our indigenous American fruits and vegetables, the wild and foraged ingredients, game and fish. Locally sourced, seasonal, "clean" ingredients and nose-to-tail cooking are nothing new to Sean Sherman, the Oglala Lakota chef and founder of The Sioux Chef. In his breakout book, The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, Sherman shares his approach to creating boldly seasoned foods that are vibrant, healthful, at once elegant and easy. Sherman dispels outdated notions of Native American fare--no fry bread or Indian tacos here--and no European staples such as wheat flour, dairy products, sugar, and domestic pork and beef. The Sioux Chef's healthful plates embrace venison and rabbit, river and lake trout, duck and quail, wild turkey, blueberries, sage, sumac, timpsula or wild turnip, plums, purslane, and abundant wildflowers. Contemporary and authentic, his dishes feature cedar braised bison, griddled wild rice cakes, amaranth crackers with smoked white bean paste, three sisters salad, deviled duck eggs, smoked turkey soup, dried meats, roasted corn sorbet, and hazelnut-maple bites. The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen is a rich education and a delectable introduction to modern indigenous cuisine of the Dakota and Minnesota territories, with a vision and approach to food that travels well beyond those borders.