Think About Whose Land Your Thanksgiving Dinner Comes From
HuffPost
Despite the holiday's tragic beginnings, chef Crystal Wahpepah says it's also a "celebration of how we honor our ancestors."
Chef Crystal Wahpepah is the owner of the Native American restaurant Wahpepah’s Kitchen in Oakland, California. Before opening her kitchen, she was among the first Native women to own a catering business, providing meals for events like the Visit Native California launch party and the American Indian Film Festival. She was also the first Native chef to appear on the Food Network show “Chopped.”
This Kickapoo chef has traveled the country speaking at food summits and building relationships with Indigenous producers, earning her the Indigenous Artist Activist Award. In this edition of Voices In Food, Wahpepah discusses why she encourages people to acknowledge that North Americans live on stolen land and how her restaurant aims to reclaim Native food sovereignty.