“So we’ve got ground elk, onions, delicata squash. We just chopped it up real fine. It's got sumac, cedar and salt in it “
Chef Rob Kinneen with the nonprofit Indigenous Food Lab is grilling at the kitchen of Fork and Spoon in Bozeman . The social enterprise restaurant run by the Human Resources Development Council (HRDC) serves pay what you can meals five nights a week but also rents out its commercial kitchen.
Tonight the kitchen is being used for a pop-up dinner as a taste of what’s to come in Bozeman, as Sean Sherman’s nonprofit starts using the kitchen regularly sometime in the near future.
“Our goal is to try and get food access to tribal communities all across the state, and that’s what we're hoping to do right here in this building” Sherman said.
Sherman’s restaurant in Minneapolis was named James Beard’s best restaurant in America in 2022. Owamni highlights Indigenous ingredients by removing colonial ingredients like dairy,wheat, flour, cane sugar, beef, pork and chicken. Tonight’s 7 course pop up does the same.
"Put a lot of artistry into the plating, you know and just really take a lot of care with the ingredients that were playing with. " Sherman said.
The elk skewer is plated on top of a dark red circle of sauce made from currents. Topped with fresh ramps and drizzled with a pine syrup.
“We harvested this pine cut it all up and then we're going to cook it down with some maple syrup and some water and just let it simmer for a long time till the water starts to evaporate but it'll absorb a lot of this Pine flavor” Sherman explained.
This is the only Bozeman pop-up on the calendar for the time being, but Sherman says he hopes a restaurant in Bozeman isn’t too far away.
Sherman says their first step is improving native food access, and making educational videos.
Megan Vincent was one of 80 guests at the pop up. She is a culinary arts teacher at a high school in Lewistown. She said the food was amazing, and the braised bison and wild rice flan were favorites.
“I want to figure out that dessert. I really want the dessert recipe, to see if I can make that with them. I think the idea of making desert taste that good without using those standard ingredients like sugar and dairy would be an amazing experience.”
