The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (the Academy) will welcome James Beard Award-winning Oglala Lakota Sioux chef Sean Sherman, known as “The Sioux Chef,” on June 20, 2026, for a conversation on the rich history and ongoing importance of Indigenous foodways. Presented in partnership with ArtPhilly’s What Now: 2026 festival and WHYY, the event Native Foodways of Turtle Island with Sean Sherman is part of special programming connected to the Academy’s new 2026 exhibition Botany of Nations, on view through February 14, 2027, then traveling to the Bell Museum in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Drawing from his new, 2026 James Beard Award-nominated book, Turtle Island, which features more than 100 ancestral and modern recipes, Sherman will talk about the diverse Native foodways that have nourished Indigenous peoples physically, spiritually and culturally across North America for generations. Following the conversation with Sherman and WHYY’s Fresh Air co-executive producer Sam Briger, guests can attend a Turtle Island book signing and participate in a hands-on experiential walk through A Native Plant Garden for Botany of Nations outside the Academy. There, attendees will have the opportunity to sample traditional foods and prepare medicinal teas alongside Indigenous chefs Luke Black Elk and Joe Haber, ethnobotanist Linda Black Elk and Drexel Food Labs professor Rachel Sherman. The garden of Eastern native plants was created by the Garden Club of Philadelphia and Forrester Landscape Studio to complement the exhibition.

Tickets to attend Native Foodways of Turtle Island with Sean Sherman include museum admission and are available on the Academy’s website.

“Through collaboration with Indigenous cultural leaders such as Chef Sean Sherman, we aim to bring forward the profound ecological, cultural and culinary wisdom that Indigenous communities have stewarded for generations,” said Marina McDougall, Vice President of Experience and Engagement, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. “We’re honored to celebrate Chef Sherman’s visionary work to revitalize Indigenous food systems and invite audiences to engage with ancestral foodways as living, evolving traditions. His major contributions as a leader in the food sovereignty movement amplify the exhibition’s goal of highlighting the remarkable plants of North America and the ways Indigenous approaches help safeguard the health of both natural and cultural ecologies.”

Programming schedule:

1– 2:30 p.m. Talk by chef Sean Sherman, introduced by Drexel’s Associate Dean for Culture and Community Steve Dolph, followed by moderated conversation with WHYY’s Sam Briger.

2:30–4 p.m. Turtle Island book signing with Sean Sherman and an experiential plant walk in the Garden Club of Philadelphia’s pop-up native plant garden with chefs Luke Black Elk and Joe Haber, ethnobotanist Linda Black Elk and Drexel Food Labs professor Rachel Sherman. Sample traditional foods and make medicinal tea preparations, while learning more about the importance of North American native plants and Indigenous ecological knowledge dating back thousands of years.

Botany of Nations is a major exhibition at the Academy, developed in collaboration with Indigenous partners, including co-curator and ethnobotanist Dr. Enrique Salmón (Rarámuri/Tarahumara). Rooted in one of the nation’s oldest botanical collections, held at the Academy, the exhibition brings new depth to the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery with Indigenous knowledge and voices at its center. It explores how plants documented along the expedition trail were already deeply understood and connected to the cultural practices of Indigenous communities long before they were collected and cataloged by Meriwether Lewis.

Sherman collaborated on and contributed to the development of the exhibition by serving on its Steering Committee and advising the Academy on Indigenous heritage foods and culinary traditions. Sherman is a driving force in revitalizing Native cuisine in the U.S., leading the movement through the acclaimed Minneapolis restaurant Owamni and the nonprofit, North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS).

Botany of Nations will be on view through February 14, 2027 at the Academy. After its run in Philadelphia, the exhibition will travel to the Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. There, it will be on view from September 25, 2027, through January 9, 2028.

“We are thrilled to welcome Botany of Nations to Minnesota in fall 2027,” said Holly Menninger, Executive Director of the Bell Museum. “As Minnesota's state natural history museum, the Bell is committed to centering and supporting Native American perspectives and knowledge through our exhibits and programs. Botany of Nations offers a rich experience through its pairing of historically significant scientific collections from the Lewis and Clark Herbarium with the knowledge, stories, and voices of the Indigenous peoples who both protected and cared for the lands visited by the Corps of Discovery, and continue to do so today. We're honored to host this exhibition that has been co-curated and developed by Indigenous knowledge keepers and cultural historians -- including the Twin Cities’ beloved Sean Sherman, who has been such an important force in the Indigenous food sovereignty movement, both here and beyond.”

About Sean Sherman

A member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, Chef Sean Sherman was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. His focus is on the revitalization and evolution of Indigenous foods systems throughout North America. Through his activism and advocacy, Sean is helping to reclaim and celebrate the rich culinary heritage of Indigenous communities around the world.

Sean has dedicated his career to supporting and promoting Indigenous food systems and Native food sovereignty. His goal is to make Indigenous foods more accessible to as many communities as possible through the non-profit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) and its Indigenous Food Lab, a professional Indigenous kitchen and training center. Working to address the economic and health crises affecting Native communities by re-establishing Native foodways, NĀTIFS imagines a new North American food system that generates wealth and improves health in Native communities through food-related enterprises. In 2017, Sean published his first book with author Beth Dooley, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, which received the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook in 2018. He is also the recipient of the 2019 Leadership Award from the James Beard Foundation. In 2021, Sean opened Minnesota’s first full service Indigenous restaurant, Owamni by The Sioux Chef, which received the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in America for 2022. Most recently, Chef Sean Sherman was honored as TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023 and in 2023 was named recipient of the ninth annual Julia Child Award for culinary activism, innovation.

About Luke and Linda Black Elk

Luke and Linda Black Elk are food sovereignty activists and teachers of traditional plant knowledge, gardening, food preservation and foraging. They spend their time collecting and preparing traditional foods and medicines for Indigenous peoples and communities in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and beyond. Luke is a chef, focusing on the traditional foods of Turtle Island, and he is a founding board member of the Tatanka Wakpala Model Sustainable Community, which is a Native nonprofit on the Cheyenne River Nation focusing on Indigenous building design, permaculture, food sovereignty and a return to Lakota spirituality as a guide for everyday life. Linda is a renowned ethnobotanist, author and educator, and she currently serves as the Education Director at North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems. Luke is the Farm Director at Hohwoju Otunwe, a 16-acre organic farm on recovered homelands of the Oceti Sakowin in southern Minnesota. Together, Luke and Linda sit on the board of Makoce Ikikcupi, a Dakota-led nonprofit, which is a Reparative Justice project on Dakota lands.

About Chef Joe Haber

Chef Joe Haber is the chef/owner of Tomahawks Private Dining and Catering Services. Originally going to school to be an X-ray technician, Haber found his passion for food while studying in college and has been using it as fuel to learn and rediscover his Mohawk roots since then. Hailing from a long line of Mohawk Ironworkers who helped build the great cities of the northeast, Chef Joe comes down from that high elevation to ground level, where whole ingredients and natural processes help shape the pantry and the cooking techniques he uses to explore Mohawk food through his "untrained" eyes.

About the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

Founded in 1812, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is a leading natural history museum and scientific research organization dedicated to understanding the natural world and inspiring everyone to care for it. The Academy is a constant source of innovation, education and engagement with environmental justice. It is home to more than 19 million scientific specimens in its world-class collections. Learn more at ansp.org and follow the Academy on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.