LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM PRESENTERS HERE!
The Native American Culinary Association, Tohono O'odham Community Action and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum are proud to present and bring the following symposium presenters to Tucson, Arizona for this unique indigenous food culture event.
Register online here: http://www.tocaonline.org/celebration-registration.html
NACA Symposium Presenters
Arlie Doxtator, Oneida Executive Chef
Bio: Arlie Doxtator has 27 years of professional culinary experience as a First Nations Chef in Hotel/Casino, independent, private resort and corporate food service. Chef Arlie has been featured in numerous publications including Native People's Magazine, Chef’s Magazine and the Green Bay Press Gazette. Chef Doxtator specializes in the research and study of the indigenous foods of the Lotinishoni--People of the Long House, and their importance of their existence in the future. Chef Doxtator specializes in Indigenous Culinary Linguistics developing and promoting Indigenous foodways on a national, inter-generational and community level for wellness throughout Native America.
Bleu Adams,
Owner/Operator at Black Sheep Café
Owner, Black Sheep Cafe, Blue Pablano,
Board Member of Local First Provo: Member, Native American Culinary
Association (NACA), SLC Kitchen Collective
Bio: April is Navajo,
Hidatsa and Mandan descent originally from Provo, Utah. April started in the
food business selling homemade Navajo foods at countless pow wow’s and events
over the years. On September 1, 2011 April her husband, family and sister
signed a lease for 19 N University in Provo. Utah. This is the location of Black
Sheep Café, of which April Adams is owner and operator of this
successful independent restaurant.
Mark Daniel Mason. ”I
am Hidatsa/Mandan and Dine'. I started cooking at the age age of 8. My earliest
culinary memories are from waking in my Great Grandmothers hogan to the smell
and tastes of coffee, bacon and blue corn mush. I have lived in Santa Fe, New
Mexico and fell in love with the chiles, flavors and bold cuisine of the
southwest. I self-trained throughout the 90's in French and Italian cooking
techniques. I continued my training in restaurant kitchens of the American
southwest region in Scottsdale Arizona. In Scottsdale I trained in the kitchen
of Marcellino Ristorante under master chef Marcellino Verzino. I am currently
Chef/ partner of Black Sheep Cafe and Blue Pablano Taqueria in Provo, Utah. At
Black Sheep Cafe we offer cuisine inspired by not only the southwest but all
North America utilizing corn, squashes, beans to rabbit, quail, venison and bison.
We offer frybread in desserts and tacos with slow braised pork and beef under
scratch made salsa verde and roja!”
Claudia Serrato, MA
Bio: Offering critical Indigenous critiques and perspectives while engaging a decolonizing approach, doctoral student of sociocultural anthropology, Claudia Serrato, creates a space to explore and re-member Indigenous food cosmologies through sensory and memory work, while addressing Indigenous health and health outcomes. Her most recent project weaves Indigenous and queer knowledge's with womb ecology as a decolonizing practice centered around Indigenous gastronomy and healing. As a community chef, Claudia prepares meals for cultural gatherings, facilitates cooking workshops, and speaks on cultural nutrition as practice of accountability to all of our relations. She can be found at www.claudiaserrato.net
Neftalí Durán was born and raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, but it wasn’t
until he moved to a close knit Mexican community in West Los Angeles in 1997
that he began to understand the importance of Oaxacan culture and its infinite
gastronomy. After working in restaurant kitchens in LA for 7 years, Neftali
moved to Western Massachusetts to learn the craft of baking bread in a
wood-fired oven. Since 2003, he has been running El Jardin Bakery, an artisanal
bread bakery and cafe in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. After years of living
on the East Coast, Nef has dedicated himself to researching all aspects of Oaxacan
culture and cuisine. When he’s not busy sourcing the best Mexican ingredients
available in New England, you can find Nef baking bread in a wood-fired oven,
roasting whole animals in a fire pit, or catering elaborate meals. His work has
been featured on Food52.com and on Man Fire Food on The Cooking Channel.
Valerie Segrest is a native nutrition
educator who specializes in local and traditional foods. She received a Bachelor
of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University in 2009 and a Masters Degree in
Environment and Community from Antioch University. As an enrolled member of the
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, she serves her community as the coordinator of the
Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project and also works for the Northwest Indian
College’s Traditional Plants Program as a nutrition educator. In 2010, she
co-authored the book “Feeding the People, Feeding the Spirit: Revitalizing
Northwest Coastal Indian Food Culture”. She is a fellow for the Institute of
Agriculture and Trade Policy. Valerie hopes to inspire and enlighten others
about the importance of a nutrient-dense diet through a simple, common sense
approach to eating.
Ofelia Zepeda (Tohono O'odham) AILDI
director, is a Regents' professor of linguistics and affiliate faculty in
American Indian Studies and Language, Reading and Culture at the University of
Arizona. She teaches Tohono O'odham language courses and survey courses on American
Indian languages. Her research areas include language variation, language
policy, and issues of endangered languages. She has published numerous articles
in these areas. She is also author of The Tohono O'odham Grammar and of two
books of poetry, much of it written in the O'odham language. Dr. Zepeda
is also the recipient of a MacArthur fellowship for her work on Indigenous
languages. She has served on numerous boards and is currently a trustee of the
Tohono O'odham Community College. Dr. Zepeda has been involved in AILDI
practically since its inception as an instructor and founding co-director. Her
breadth of experience in the field of language revitalization continues to
guide the institution.
Chris Rodriguez, Chef/Scholar
Bio: Chris Rodriguez is
a Xicano, professional chef and co-creator of the grassroots community health
project Decolonial Food For Thought. He is an independent scholar and political
commentator on native and Indigenous food autonomy and sovereignty movements in
Mesoamerica.
Samantha Antone, Tewa/Hopi from the Village of Tewa in First Mesa. Samantha is the Program Manager of the Natwani Coalition serving as a facilitator for the planning, organizing, and implementation of community-based and culturally relevant agricultural initiatives. She is also the content developer for the Hopi Natwani for Youth Project (HNYP) farming curriculum.
Lois Ellen Frank, Ph.D.
Bio: Lois Ellen Frank
is a working Chef at Red Mesa Cuisine, a Native American Catering Company
specializing in locally sourced, seasonal Native American foods. She is also a
James Beard Award winning cookbook author of Foods of the Southwest Indian
Nations. Her work is internationally known and influences a generation of
Native Chefs.
Walter Whitewater, Chef/Author
Bio: Walter Whitewater
is a working Chef at Red Mesa Cuisine, a Native American Catering Company
specializing in locally sourced, seasonal Native American foods. Chef
Whitewater is also a James Beard Award winning cookbook co-author of Foods of
the Southwest Indian Nations. His work is internationally known and influences
an entire generation of Native Chefs.
Kyle Knox, Farmer at Natwani
Coalition
Bio: Kyle is Hopi and
Akimel O’odham (Pima) from the village of Kykotsmovi and is a member of the
Coyote clan. Mr. Knox has a BA in Fine Arts and Media Production from ASU and
brings his experience as an active Hopi farmer to help shape the future of the
Natwani Coalition.
Chef Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota Sioux, born in Pine Ridge, SD, has
been cooking in MN, SD & MT for the last 25 years. He is currently the Executive
Chef of Common Roots Cafe and Catering in Minneapolis, MN which
features local and organic foods and an organic urban garden. Chef Sherman’s
main culinary focus has been the “pre-reservation” indigenous knowledge of wild
foods. His studies have taken him to the Crow tribes of the Bighorn and
Beartooth Mountain Ranges in Wyoming and Montana, the Sioux plains in the Dakotas,
the Ojibwe forests and lakes throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Chef Sherman
has been readying his own concept of Modern & Traditional Native American
Foods of these Northern Tribes to bring to the public by opening his vision of
indigenous foods in the form of a restaurant, learning center and meeting
grounds in MN by early Fall of 2014.
Seth Pilsk, is a Botanist, and has worked for the San Carlos Apache Tribe’s Department of Forest Resources for over twenty years. He has worked directly with elders from the Arizona Apache tribes on a number of cultural preservation projects focused on the traditional Apache relationship with the natural world.
Nephi Craig,
Chef/Founder of NACA and Executive Chef
Bio: Nephi Craig is the
Chef and Founder of The Native American Culinary Association or NACA.
Chef Craig has 14 years of professional experience as a Native Chef. Chef Craig
has cooked all over the world in Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Japan
specializing in Native American Cuisine. Chef Craig is the creator of the Apaches
in the Kitchen blog. Nephi Craig is also the
co-founder and CEO of The
Western Apache Center for Food and Agriculture or WACFA, a
not-for-profit organization dedicated the protection of land, food, people and
water rights in Western Apacheria. Executive Chef Craig, lends his
international experience, vision and expertise in Restorative
Indigenous Culinary Practices to the
development of WACFA in order to
empower local communities through indigenous food and agriculture.
Craig currently serves as Executive Chef for the Sunrise Park Resort
Hotel on the White Mountain Apache Tribe.
Register Today! http://www.tocaonline.org/celebration-registration.html
