The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Food Lab opens in Midtown Global Market

The Indigenous Food Lab, from the culinary team known as the Sioux Chef, officially has a home in Midtown Global Market.

The professional kitchen serves as a training center for food service, research and culinary education related to Native American cuisine. The lab teaches skills such as identification, gathering, cultivation and preparation of Indigenous ingredients.

"We're so excited to call Midtown Global Market our home," said Sean Sherman, the founder and CEO of the Sioux Chef, in a news release. "This space will be the heart of all of our future efforts to bring access and awareness to Indigenous Education and Indigenous Foods. Wopila!"

The lab is one piece of the Sioux Chef's mission to reclaim North American culinary culture and revitalize Native American cuisine. Sherman and Sioux Chef co-owner Dana Thompson, partners in business and life, founded North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NāTIFS), a nonprofit addressing economic and health disparities in tribal communities through food. The Indigenous Food Lab's educational component is at the heart of that goal.

Already, the Indigenous Food Lab — which takes over the former Kitchen in the Market — has been turning out 400 meals a day for Minnesota Central Kitchen, the restaurant-and-nonprofit partnership that employs restaurant workers to make hot meals for those in need.

"We are so proud to have the Indigenous Food Lab as one of our Midtown Global Market businesses," said Ben Johnson, senior director of real estate for the Neighborhood Development Center, one of the owners of Midtown Global Market. "We are delighted to see this vision come to life."

Sherman is a two-time James Beard Award-winner. He is one of the recipients of the James Beard Foundation's 2019 Leadership Awards, and he won in 2018 for his cookbook, "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen."

Sharyn Jackson • 612-673-4853

@SharynJackson