One Heart at a Time

“In order to understand who we are, we have to know what we’ve done to each other.” –Ocean Vuong

“We heal the world one heart at a time.” –Rachel Naomi Remen

I’ve had the idea for this post mulling for months now and life’s daily demands have stalled its inception. I’m not really sure why I put these things out there, hardly anyone sees them. I guess they fill a desire in me, a drive to work through relevant ideas for myself. For whatever they’re worth. And as Rachel Naomi Remen lovingly reminds in the quote above, “We heal the world one heart at a time.”

I listen to the podcast, On Being, in quiet moments while driving or folding laundry or even while completing rote tasks at work. I try and fill myself with expansive and nourishing ideas in an age where it is all too easy to fall prey to the rampant mis and disinformation machines. I’ve become fond of the beautiful minds illuminated in people such as Ocean Vuong and Rachel Naomi Remen. In fact, each and every person On Being’s founder Krista Tippett profiles delivers a deeply relevant and profound message.

The seeds of this post were my photos from a summer job in Rhode Island. The photos capture the kitchen garden of a florist I work with and the seasonal vegetables and herbs at the picking for our dining plates (not easy for this city dweller with nary a clean square of land to garden). They were beautiful on their own. Dappling summer light highlighting greens and red, peaches and aubergine. The summer color songbook. But they resonated at a higher frequency when I came across the work of Sean Sherman. Chef, Cookbook Author and Founder of The Sioux Chef, he heads the Indigenous Food (R)Evolution, a movement that aims to decolonize and revitalize Indigenous diet and cuisine.

There is so much wisdom to be gleaned from this country’s Native populations. And there is so much that we, as Americans, have not learned about our tragic treatment of the people who were here first. The desire to do better brings me back to Ocean Vuong’s quote at the top of this post, “In order to understand who we are, we have to know what we’ve done to each other.” Educating ourselves is one place to start. Mr. Sherman has a number of informative videos which are easily googleable, I’ve included one at the end of this post. Supporting Sean Sherman’s movement and cookbook, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen feels like another good place to begin. One heart, mouth and mind at a time.

iPhone snaps Beth Horta for Sweet Sabelle.

I love the commitment to use no dairy, or wheat flour, no processed sugar, no beef, no pork, no chicken. To rather use staples that were here before the Europeans and colonialization.

This is a deep dive article into the world of Sean Sherman and his James Beard Award-winning Best New Restaurant 2022, Owamni, on Native land in Minneapolis.