Indigenous Food Lab to debut new menu items at the Minnesota State Fair
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The Minnesota State Fair is known for many iconic foods: Pronto Pups, Sweet Martha’s Cookies, corn on the cob and more. Each year, many eagerly await the announcement of new foods and vendors that will have thousands scrambling to be the first in line to try.
On the list of foods and vendors coming to the fair this year is one that brings a taste of the Americas with ingredients from close to home.
Sioux Chef Sean Sherman’s Indigenous Food Lab is on the list of vendors with two debut menu items that will help introduce fair goers to a taste of Indigenous cooking — bison meatballs and sweet potato dumplings.
What is the Indigenous Food Lab?
In 2020, the nonprofit NATIFS opened the food lab as a professional Indigenous kitchen and training center focused on cultural and nutritional revitalization. This means they create dishes that use ingredients sourced in the Americas that can be dated back to pre-colonial times.
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Pork, chicken, beef, dairy and wheat are among the ingredients that are not used in the kitchen.
Instead, bison, fish, wild rice and corn mixes are the most prevalent ingredients on the menu. The food lab says the focus is on using ingredients that are unprocessed and have little to no additives.
Ingredients are sourced either locally or within the Americas. For example, the corn that is often used is sourced from the foothills of the Ute Mountain in New Mexico.
Their bison meat is from Westside Meats under the Cheyenne River Buffalo Company in South Dakota. The wild rice comes from the Red Lake Nation here in northern Minnesota, and any spices that are used in their meals are also bought locally.
Staff describe the taste of their food as “earthy and natural.”
“It’s stripped back, it’s maintaining the flavors without adding too many additives to it, just keeping it natural as possible,” says Jackie Lam, who runs the Indigenous Food Lab Market.
The market is customer-facing business. It sells goods from local tribal communities, such as wild rice, cookbooks and medicinal salves.
The food lab also runs cooking classes from time to time, teaching people how to make Indigenous meals.
New at the State Fair
In the corner of the Midtown Global Market on historic Lake Street in Minneapolis, staff are busy preparing for the fair. The sound of food sizzling on the grill and dishes clashing together reverberates off the high ceilings. Culinary leader, Ismael Popoca Aguilar says staff will be preparing for up to a month in advance of the Great Minnesota Get-Together.
“We’re really happy to be doing this,” Popoca Aguilar said. “We’re really proud to have gone this far.”
Bison meatballs and sweet potato dumplings will debut as sides to the lab’s Nixtamal bowls, the main menu item.
Laura Garcia works in the food production department and says the items have been in development for two years. The offerings are new not only to the State Fair, but to everyone, which she says is exciting.
Nash McRoberts has worked with Sean Sherman for over four years. McRoberts started as a cook and now helps to manage the Indigenous Food Lab Market with Lam.
He describes the taste of bison meat as a lean, clean meat. The recipe mixes wild rice and cranberries into the meatballs, which are then topped with wóžapi, a mixed berry sauce for an added touch of sweetness.
“We’re going to be frying our meatballs, but they’re going to be very quickly fried just to basically heat them up,” McRoberts added. “There’s less oil in our food compared to other people's food there.”
The sweet potato dumplings will be topped with a seed mix and wóžapi sauce.
The menu is health conscious and caters to many dietary restrictions that one may not otherwise find at the fair, according to Popoca Aguilar. And for those who are a bit more adventurous, there will be the option of adding crickets seasoned with sumac and chili powder to the order.
The Indigenous Food Lab will be in the International Bazaar at the Midtown Global Market’s Booth during the second half of the fair from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2.