Monday, November 8: Lakota Foods and Culture and Food Demonstration

Chef Inyan Eagle Elk, (Ho-Cank/Sicangu Lakota) was born in Sioux City, IA and currently lives in Rapid City, SD with his wife, Nashae and daughters Mni and Emma. Inyan has been working to advance food sovereignty and wellness initiatives for the past seven years throughout the Northern Plains service area. Inyan started his culinary education at Boxelder Job Corps in South Dakota in 2006, earning highest honors in education, lodging and trade. Interning at a Nursing home and working a mobile kitchen feeding fire fighters, Inyan graduated and was accepted into Johnson and Wales University in Denver, Colorado for Culinary Arts. After a year, Inyan relocated to Chicago, Illinois and graduated from CHIC Le Cordon Bleu in 2009 with an Associates Degree of Applied Sciences of Culinary Arts. This curriculum included an externship at a famed Chicago restaurant, and he remained in Chicago working in various kitchens until 2014, returning home to take a more active role in his cultural practices. Inyan now spends his time with his wife and daughters, helping her grandfather as a ranch hand in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and promotes Traditional Foods lifestyle. Be it gardening or preparing for the winter months by preserving traditional foods, Inyan recognizes that growing food is a critical element to successful food sovereignty initiatives in tribal communities. Not leaving his culinary background behind, Inyan instead reflected on how he could best use his education and experiences to help the people. Chef Inyan will share about ancestral/traditional foods that are important to the Lakota people of the Northern Plains. He will also conduct a cooking demonstration using traditional Lakota recipes and ingredients at the Feeding America headquarters in Chicago which will be available online.

Link to Register for this Presentation 11am – 12:30pm Central, Nov. 8:

https://fano.webex.com/fano/j.php?RGID=r4a0fd4b45987098c408aed5684adce4b

MONAH is highlighting this event by Feeding America.