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Activists Around the World: Sherry Pocknett · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie.
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  Speaker 2: And Samantha.
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  Speaker 1: And welcome to Stuff I've Never Told You, a production
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  Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: And we are right in Indigenous Peoples Month, so we
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  Speaker 2: had to start strong for our episodes of Activists Around
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  Speaker 2: the World, 2026, just in case y'all need to know.
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  Speaker 2: And we are starting with award-winning Indigenous chef Sherry Pocknett.
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  Speaker 2: So Pucknett is the first indigenous woman to be awarded
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  Speaker 2: the James Beard Award, which she received in 2023. 2023!
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  Speaker 2: The first indigenous chef woman. Come on. Anyway, moving on.
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  Speaker 2: Pucknett is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag community in
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  Speaker 2: the Connecticut area. Which, by the way, apparently they were
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  Speaker 2: the ones who we kind of know as the ones
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  Speaker 2: that fed the pilgrims during Thanksgiving.
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  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 2: I was like, oh, okay. And they are one of
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  Speaker 2: the two government-recognized tribes of that area, which we know
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  Speaker 2: there are so many more, but, you know, I digress.
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  Speaker 2: She has very strict guidelines for her cooking, which include
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  Speaker 2: making sure to preserve the land and culture of her
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  Speaker 2: community within her food. She has talked about how she
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  Speaker 2: cooks using her heritage and her story and has made
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  Speaker 2: sure to preserve the purity of her culture through her work.
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  Speaker 2: And here's a bit from WSHU.org after her win, her
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  Speaker 2: James Beard win. The menu features the food her family
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  Speaker 2: grew up with, using seasonal ingredients and local fish and game.
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  Speaker 2: It's all about the bounty of the season and what
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  Speaker 2: we can do with it and how we treat it
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  Speaker 2: and how it's going to treat us, she said. And
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  Speaker 2: the article continues, Pocknett now serves food inspired by her
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  Speaker 2: family and her tribe. She serves daily caught fish, venison,
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  Speaker 2: Indian fry bread, and quahog hard clam chowder, a Mashpee
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  Speaker 2: Wampanoag original dish. She also serves dishes of her own invention,
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  Speaker 2: such as corn cakes and rice made with three sisters.
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  Speaker 2: an indigenous name for corn, beans, and squash, because when
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  Speaker 2: planted together, they nurture each other to grow, which we've
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  Speaker 2: talked about repeatedly, as in fact it was in one
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  Speaker 2: of our goddess episodes, I believe. Or at least traditions.
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  Speaker 2: And in a WBUR article titled, Local Indigenous Communities Are
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  Speaker 2: Claiming Their Food Sovereignty, they talk about the Wampanoag community.
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  Speaker 2: They say, Wampanoag families lived seasonally, moving closer to water
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  Speaker 2: in the summer to fish and moving inland in the
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  Speaker 2: winter to focus on hunting. They were growing crops and
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  Speaker 2: had an abundance of forageable food around them. All that
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  Speaker 2: changed when contact with outsiders began, as we know. Interestingly,
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  Speaker 2: she talks about so many of her family members being
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  Speaker 2: a big influence, and she talks specifically about her mom
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  Speaker 2: teaching her to forage and how important that is for
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  Speaker 2: her family and for her tribe and her community. So Paknutt, again,
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  Speaker 2: talks specifically about her family and upbringing, and she says this,
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  Speaker 2: My mom and dad are both Umpanuk Indians, said Paknutt.
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  Speaker 2: They both taught us. They wanted us to know our
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  Speaker 2: life ways, how we survive, how to survive. So I'm
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  Speaker 2: so fortunate to grow up back then and be able
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  Speaker 2: to teach my children and my grandchildren. Our food is
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  Speaker 2: our stories, Parknet said. It's our sovereignty. And without food,
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  Speaker 2: without the stories, there wouldn't be language. Again, we've talked
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  Speaker 2: about this repeatedly and how important this type of work
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  Speaker 2: is to preserve land and preserve the culture and the foods,
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  Speaker 2: which has rapidly disappeared. That makes me really sad. So
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  Speaker 2: her father, Vernon Pucknett, was the Mashpee Wampanoag chief Sly Fox,
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  Speaker 2: which she named her restaurant after. Her uncle was Chief
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  Speaker 2: Flying Eagle, who was also a chef and caterer. And
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  Speaker 2: her grandmother, Desina Hendricks, was a chef and baker. All
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  Speaker 2: of them played a big role in her life and
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  Speaker 2: as well as her mother, as we talked about previously.
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  Speaker 2: Here's a bit from Norwich Bulletin. I started cooking at
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  Speaker 2: a very early age. I come from a family of cooks,
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  Speaker 2: so I grew up with wooden spoon in my mouth.
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  Speaker 2: My mother is amazing and my dad, late Mashpee Wampanoag
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  Speaker 2: chief Vernon Sly Fox Pucknett, was a hunter and fisherman.
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  Speaker 2: They bought me a Susie homemaker oven when I was
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  Speaker 2: about eight. I would cook anything in there. It would
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  Speaker 2: be deer, rabbit, quahogs, eels, anything my dad brought home.
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  Speaker 2: I cooked it all and fed it to my brothers.
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  Speaker 2: I knew then that's what I wanted to do. My
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  Speaker 2: mother's mother also played a big role in my life,
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  Speaker 2: and I was up there every Sunday learning. We're seasonal people,
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  Speaker 2: so that's what my grandmother taught me. The new year
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  Speaker 2: is in the spring, which the fish and birds return,
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  Speaker 2: and the fiddleheads start growing. So in that same interview,
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  Speaker 2: she talks about the people who paved the way for her.
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  Speaker 2: And she says this, My ancestors paved the way because
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  Speaker 2: this is my gift for my people. This is a
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  Speaker 2: gift for anybody in my tribe. I love to teach
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  Speaker 2: about cooking and our culture and living off the water
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  Speaker 2: and the land to anybody willing to learn. So at
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  Speaker 2: 60 years old, Pogta opened her restaurant, Sly Fox Den 2.
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  Speaker 2: So here's a bit from time.com. Her restaurant named for
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  Speaker 2: her fisherman father and Native American rights advocate, Chief Sly Fox,
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  Speaker 2: is her own way of using her people's knowledge to
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  Speaker 2: feed Americans today. And she hopes the menu shows the
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  Speaker 2: breadth and depth of indigenous foods, which are so much
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  Speaker 2: more than Thanksgiving turkey. In fact, at Sly Fox Den 2,
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  Speaker 2: which opened in 2021, June, the only turkey parts are
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  Speaker 2: feathers sticking out of a hand-woven basket hanging on the wall.
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  Speaker 2: Pocknett explains that her people do eat turkey, but they
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  Speaker 2: also respect the birds for their smarts and wear the
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  Speaker 2: feathers in their hair in order to observe the turkey's intelligence.
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  Speaker 2: And the article continues, Her menu is based on a
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  Speaker 2: simple concept. The food I grew up with, she says.
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  Speaker 2: She cooks what's local and what's in season. This time
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  Speaker 2: of year, that means foods like rabbit and quahogs, hardshell
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  Speaker 2: clams native to the Atlantic coast. So in this article,
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  Speaker 2: they talk specifically about Thanksgiving and how the indigenous people do,
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  Speaker 2: I won't say celebrate it, but do have a feast.
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  Speaker 2: And this is what they do and why it's important
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  Speaker 2: for them to be able to have a moment to
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  Speaker 2: understand what happened at that time. especially when it was
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  Speaker 2: pretty closely affected them, obviously. And when she received her
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  Speaker 2: James Beard Award in 2023, she talked about her current
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  Speaker 2: battle with breast cancer, which she is currently in remission for.
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  Speaker 2: So back to the WSHU article. Amid the celebrations, Pugnett
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  Speaker 2: recognizes the award came at the lowest time in her life.
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  Speaker 2: She is currently battling breast cancer and recently finished chemotherapy.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm trying to be strong, that's for sure. This
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  Speaker 2: award has helped and it makes me just want to
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  Speaker 2: keep going, keep fighting and keep creating, she said. And
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  Speaker 2: while on the road to recovery, her two daughters have
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  Speaker 2: taken over responsibilities at the restaurant. She said her daughters
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  Speaker 2: learned how to cook while traveling the powwow circuit with
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  Speaker 2: her as a food vendor, serving frogs legs and smoked seafood.
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  Speaker 2: And as a note, Sly Fox 2 did close. I
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  Speaker 2: believe there was a whole thing with the landlord at
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  Speaker 2: the time. And I think she's looking at reopening somewhere else,
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  Speaker 2: probably closer to her native area in Connecticut, because I
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  Speaker 2: think this was in New York. I don't know what
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  Speaker 2: I'm trying to say. This was in a different place.
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  Speaker 2: So she wants to bring it back and do a
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  Speaker 2: new restaurant with that, which I hope she does because
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  Speaker 2: her food sounds amazing. And I really wish we had
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  Speaker 2: an opportunity to try it. I want to try it.
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  Speaker 2: And she has made sure to show the beauty of
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  Speaker 2: indigenous food to her daughters as well as to others.
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  Speaker 2: So this is from the National Geographic article about her.
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  Speaker 2: They say, with her creations, Pocknett, who has recently battled
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  Speaker 2: breast cancer, emphasizes healthful ingredients such as sustainable raised and
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  Speaker 2: hunted meats and fresh produce, much of it grown in
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  Speaker 2: her family's own gardens, prepared using time-tested methods to preserve nutrients.
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  Speaker 2: Like many of her fellow Native American chefs and restaurateurs,
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  Speaker 2: she believes this traditional fare acts as a medicine of sorts.
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  Speaker 2: nourishing not only the body, but also the mind and spirit.
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  Speaker 2: And the article continues, her dishes pay homage to family
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  Speaker 2: meals she savored growing up, like a fish hash that
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  Speaker 2: minimizes waste by using leftover potatoes from the last night's dinner.
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  Speaker 2: And they say, throughout my childhood, my mom cooked whatever
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  Speaker 2: my dad brought in the door, she says, whether it
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  Speaker 2: was from the ocean, the woods, or our four-acre farm. Here,
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  Speaker 2: Parknett shares a popular dish, which has a permanent spot
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  Speaker 2: on the special boards and showcases her tribe's diverse food ways. Man,
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  Speaker 2: I love that. And with all of this, she has
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  Speaker 2: continued to teach people about the culture and foods. So
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  Speaker 2: this is from newhavenindependent.org. She also has started Mashpee Wampanoag
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  Speaker 2: cultural classes where younger members of the nation have learned
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  Speaker 2: what their forebearers knew. Living by the seasons, eating by
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  Speaker 2: the seasons, she said. They learned to make herring nets
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  Speaker 2: from willow branches. They learned the patterns of herring migration.
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  Speaker 2: We got to go to the herring run. We got
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  Speaker 2: to jump in the water and scoop the herring with
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  Speaker 2: a net. They learned to identify male and female, cook, row,
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  Speaker 2: and clean the fish. And she's been given other accolades,
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  Speaker 2: of course. I just love that she continues to teach
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  Speaker 2: others about this process and about how to keep it
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  Speaker 2: pure and keep it sustainable and also giving respect to
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  Speaker 2: the land and the sea. We need to go back
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  Speaker 2: to those ways. Anyway, and she's been getting it again.
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  Speaker 2: Like I said, she's been given other accolades, including Woman
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  Speaker 2: of the Year in 2024 by USA Today. And here's
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  Speaker 2: what she said about that. A lot of people don't
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  Speaker 2: know about Native food, Puckett told the Bulletin in her
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  Speaker 2: Women of the Year interview. They really do know about it,
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  Speaker 2: but they don't know what is Native food. Everyone loves
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  Speaker 2: Grodd and it comes from the base of Cape Cod.
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  Speaker 2: So she's explaining the depth of needing to understand the
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  Speaker 2: Native culture and the foods and how important Native peoples
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  Speaker 2: and Native communities were to this process and to the
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  Speaker 2: foods in the lands. You know, we found that very important,
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  Speaker 2: having sustainability, understanding and learning from those who are here
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  Speaker 2: first and really understanding gave honor to the land, which
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  Speaker 2: is something we don't do enough of. So yeah, I'd
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  Speaker 2: love to see it again. You can actually find a
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  Speaker 2: lot of her recipes. They published a lot of her
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  Speaker 2: recipes on different articles. I know she was in talks
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  Speaker 2: of like doing a book and honoring her grandmother. I
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  Speaker 2: haven't seen it. I was trying to look it up
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  Speaker 2: and I haven't seen anything yet. I'm sure she has
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  Speaker 2: a lot on her plate. Um, and I hope to
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  Speaker 2: see a new restaurant from her soon as well.
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  Speaker 1: Same. And I definitely want to see that book. Um,
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  Speaker 1: That sounds amazing.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Well, listeners, if you have any thoughts on this or
• 10:01
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• 10:05
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  Speaker 1: to our super producer, Rima, and our executive producer, Maya.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 10:23
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