Indigenous Chef Elena Terry: 'We Are Still Here And Our Cuisine Is Delicious'

Learn how this skilled seed-to-table cook supports her community and fights to keep her culture alive.

In November 2018, Wisconsin Dells-based chef Elena Terry, a member of Ho-Chunk Nation, founded Wild Bearies, an organization that helps heal and educate Indigenous communities through ancestral food. She’s a seed-to-table chef, which means she grows her own food. “I can’t go to the grocery store and buy everything I need,” Terry told HuffPost. “It’s the definition, and then some, of slow food.” Before becoming a chef, Terry studied political science and philosophy and worked as a tribal legislator. But one day she decided, “This is not me.” She started working in restaurants, and then created her own business.

In the past year, she’s helped chef friends like Sean Sherman (The Sioux Chef) and Crystal Wahpepah open their Indigenous restaurants in Minneapolis and Oakland, respectively. With Thanksgiving coming up, she said she doesn’t acknowledge the holiday anymore but she celebrates the day after, known as Ho-Chunk Day, a time for reclamation of Indigenous history, heritage and space. For HuffPost’s Voices In Food series, Terry talked to Garin Pirnia about Indigenous restaurants, how badly environmental decisions affect agriculture and being blessed to help others.