Toasted Sister Podcast

In this episode I talk with Natalie Benally (Diné) about her film, “Indigenize the Plate” at a screening hosted by Tiny Grocer ABQ in Old Town Albuquerque. We talk about her journey to Peru for the film and how that inspired her to remember and revitalize traditional family ways of growing and eating. She’s the founder of Tse’Nato’, a digital storytelling company.

Cherokee chef Nico Albert Williams is just trying to make some corn soup. She’s the executive director of the Burning Cedar Sovereign Wellness in Tulsa (grand opening Sept. 14) and the vocalist for a badass doom/sludge metal band, Medicine Horse (debut album drop Sept. 8). In this music-filled episode, Nico and I talk about storytelling in music, religious horror and how she pivoted from the restaurant chef life to community leader.

From the big city of Chicago, I bring you this episode featuring 2023 James Beard Award Best Chef of the Northeast, Sherry Pocknett (Wampanoag). We talk about her win, her battle with cancer and how her past shaped the chef she is today. Photo by Huge Galdones courtesy of the James Beard Foundation.

Things get a little switched up in this episode. This time, my sister, Alisha Murphy, economist for the Navajo Nation Division of Economic Development, takes over an interview with Victoria Largo, new owner of Victoria’s Pizza brick-and-mortar restaurant in Crownpoint, New Mexico, our Navajo Nation hometown. She talks about the real struggles and triumphs of operating a food business on the Navajo Nation. It’s inspiring to hear from this enthusiastic and strong entrepreneurial spirit!

In this episode, I talk with Becky Webster (Oneida Nation), or Rebecca M. Webster, as it’s written on her new book “In Defense of Sovereignty: Protecting the Oneida Nation’s Inherent Right to Self-Determination.” She does a lot of passion work and is a founder of Ukwakhwa: Our Foods, a farm and community learning, cooking, trading and growing space in Oneida, Wisconsin. We start with Oneida history, because, “hey, Oneidas aren’t from Wisconsin…” and move through the origins of the farm, the tribe’s food system and the process of winging it.

She’s beauty, she’s grace, she’s got a couple of hours to butcher a sheep and make three dishes over an open fire. The Miss Navajo Nation Pageant is one of the most unique contests that happens every year as part of the Navajo Nation Fair in Window Rock, Arizona. In this episode, I talk with the former Miss Navajo, Niagara Rockbridge, and the new, current Miss Navajo, Valentina Clitso, about the importance of sheep butchering and Navajo foods. I also chat a little with the Navajo Nation president, Jonathan Nez, and the sheep butchering judges.

How can I say this without sounding egotistical? … This episode is about me; the creator, producer and host of this show. Yes! It is. In this episode, my sister, Alisha Murphy, interviews me and I get to share more about my mental health journey, important things I learned while producing this podcast and why vibes are important to me.

Live at the 4th Annual New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival, Sept. 24, 2022 In my first-ever live podcast recording, I talk with chef Ray Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo/Odawa), owner of Manko: Native American Fusion, Addie Lucero (Taos Pueblo), owner of Dancing Butterfly Naturals, and Andrea Garza (Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan) about the "Changing Culinary Narrative of Native America."

In this episode, I take you to the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s Reservation Economic Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s the largest annual conference focusing on Native economics. This year’s event included, for the first time, a panel series called “Food Sovereignty is Economic Sovereignty.” I went to every one of them and heard from economists, entrepreneurs and some of the heavy hitters in Native food. In this show, you’ll hear from Alisha Murphy, Navajo economist, Lance Morgan, lawyer and economist who is the president and CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., Aaron LaPointe, agribusiness manager for Ho-Chunk Farms, Heather Dawn Thompson, director of the office of tribal relations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Tomie Peterson, regenerative economies specialist with the Intertribal Agriculture Council. Mentioned in the show: 2022 4th annual New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival: https://navajoeconomy.org/

In this episode, I talk with Brett Maybee (Seneca) about corn, corn soup, corn wheels, radio stuff, music and then space-time. Brett is the host and producer of Gaënö', a weekly radio program about Native music. His work is fascinating and the passion he has for uplifting Native talent and intelligence on air is inspiring. Also mentioned in this show: Gaënö' (gaenomusic.fm), Native Voice One (NV1.org), NativeAmericaCalling.com

Millions of TV viewers watched chef Pyet DeSpain (Prairie Band Potawatomi, Mexican) beat out the competition on Gordon Ramsay’s new cooking show, “Next Level Chef” (March 2022). With her special brand of Indigenous fusion food, she was crowned the winner of season 1 and claimed a quarter-million dollar cash prize. She made waves in the media and took Indigenous food to a new level. In this episode, I talk with chef Pyet, a self-professed Toasted Sister fan, about the competition, her culinary journey and the types of men she will not date.

In this episode, I talk with Jacob Torres, a very proud New Mexican who, I think, has a very interesting life. He’s a technical and horticultural scientist at NASA and based at the NASA Kennedy Space Center and he's working on getting New Mexico green chiles on the next Mission to Mars. We talk about his work in agriculture and how hard work and taking advantage of opportunities got him where he is today, labs deep in green chile.

In this episode, I finally talk with Loretta Barrett Oden, Potawatomi chef whose kind of responsible for helping pave the way for a lot of the Native food work you see today. She was a restaurant owner, a long-time teacher of Indigenous foods and now she’s a culinary architect of the brand new First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, where I met her this month.

I’ve been really digging Native poetry lately and I thought I’d gather a few poems about food. In this short episode, Native writers recite food poems about foreign foods, frybread, seeds and ancestral wisdom. Voices are Tiffany Midge, Taté Walker, Donell Barlow and Rubi Orozco-Santos.

This is the death and food episode where I talk with Indigenous death doula, Chrystal Waban, about her work with Blackbird Medicines and the Indigenous Death Doula Collective and how food is connected to this very important journey for those who are dying, for those who are dead and for those they leave behind. Also in this episode are stories about death and food by: Dale Jones (Tulalip), Tipiziwin Tolman (Dakota and Lakota) and Melissa Baehr (Anishinaabe Ojibwe).

Do you know who picked the cabbage and celery you find at the grocery store? It might’ve been an Indigenous immigrant farmworker. In this episode, I visit with a couple of Indigenous immigrant farmworkers at Rio Grande Farm Park in Alamosa, Colorado to learn about their journey here and why they left Guatemala. I also speak with Dr. Giovanni Batz, social anthropologist focusing on Maya migration, displacement and diaspora, Guatemalan history, Indigenous movements and human rights, to learn more about why so many people migrate here; and why so many Indigenous people are displaced from their lands in Latin America. Dr. Batz mentions Gofundme fundraisers for Hurricane Eta relief: "Maya communities need help – Hurricane Eta" "Urgent need for Maya people due to Hurricane Eta" "Collection for Victims of Eta Hurricane in Nebaj" Dr. Batz also suggests “Indigenous Communities on the Frontline as Two Climate Change-Fueled Hurricanes Slam Central America” from “Democracy Now!”

Thanksgiving is a lie. In this episode I talk with three Wampanoag women about Thanksgiving and how colonization effected their foodways. We’ll also talk about the awesome work they’re doing in their East coast communities to educate and revitalize Wampanoag food. Guests are chef Sherry Pocknett from Sly Fox Den Restaurant, Danielle Hill, educator and cultural consultant with Heron-Hill LLC., and Talia Landry, production coordinator for Mashpee TV.

There’s nothing like a good beer—for me that’s a cold, citrusy and bitter IPA—and for those who appreciate the brews from their local breweries, beer is more than alcohol. Craft beer is a whole vibe and culture. In this episode, I talk with the founders of Bow & Arrow Brewing Co., Shyla Sheppard (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara) and Missy Begay (Navajo), about starting from scratch, foraging for beer ingredients and their branding and aesthetic.

My favorite color is black. That also means I have a fascination with black-colored foods. Indigenous foods come in all kinds of colors including black. In this episode, chefs Tawnya Brant (Kanyen'kehá:ka), David Smoke-McCluskey (Mohawk) and Andrea Murdoch (Andean Native) and farmer, Cherilyn Yazzie (Diné) talk about the black foods in their kitchens and farms. Mentioned: Indigo-Show art show, September 26 + 27

This podcast episode is a 20-minute preview of “Indigenous Roots: Exploring the Crossroads of African American and Indigenous American Cuisine,” an online two-part event hosted by the Museum of Food and Drink on Aug. 5 and 6. Guest chefs, Yusuf Bin-Rella of Trade Roots Culinary Collective, Elena Terry (Ho-Chunk), executive chef and founder of Wild Bearies, and chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey (Mohawk), will speak about the ways in which both cuisines have influenced each other in the context of the social reasons that early African American and Native American cultures came together out of necessity. This necessity, in turn, created a beautiful cuisine that is now part of the American food lexicon and continues to evolve. Where: Zoom When: Talk on Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Afro-Indigenous virtual food demonstration on Thursday, Aug. 6 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Tickets: $15 general admission for Aug. 5 panel discussion, $40 for the cooking demo on Aug. 6, and $45 for the panel and cooking demo. Info: MOFAD.org