I'm not even a little bit Native,
Aug. 17th, 2021 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynbut I might have to look into this one.
How to Stock Your Pantry With Native American Foods From Across the Continent: A new online marketplace sources ingredients from New York to Nevada.
by Tsanavi Spoonhunter August 13, 2021
When Ben Jacobs was a child, his parents launched a business in downtown Denver, Colorado. Grayhorse: An American Indian Eatery, was the first of its kind. But two years into the venture, the family closed the restaurant and moved on.
Decades later, the memories of Grayhorse’s mission inspired Jacobs and his business partner, Matt Chandra, to launch their own restaurant in Denver in 2008. Today, the duo runs Tocabe, the largest Native-American owned and operated restaurant chain in the United States. “What we wanted to do was take my parent’s original concept and re-adapt that,” says Jacobs, a citizen of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma. “And create a space for not only Native food, but Native community at the same time.”
Jacobs and Chandra developed a menu featuring products from Native American tribes and tribal citizens in the United States. But when the pandemic hit— forcing them to temporarily close their restaurants— the duo pondered the idea of opening a Native American food marketplace, online.
In June, they officially launched Tocabe Indigenous Marketplace, making it possible to purchase ingredients featured at Tocabe directly from the producers. “We decided to work with the partners that we already had in the Native supply chain,” explains Jacobs.
The products are often heirloom ingredients local to a particular region, such as traditionally harvested wild rice from northern Minnesota and cornmeal from Colorado. Making regional foods more accessible is “the whole point of what we’re doing ” says Jacobs, noting that a single online marketplace “can help bring a broader reach” for Native producers across the country.
Creating an online market was also an attempt “to keep the food system thriving,” Jacobs says, referring to the food supply chain for many tribal nations across the United States. In many cases, the supply chain isn’t sustainable, often because of a lack of investment. A recent study found that many Indigenous communities, particularly in rural and remote areas, have very few nearby places to buy food, or none at all. Buying products directly from Native American farmers, cooks, and craftspeople, then, brings cash flow to communities while making locally made food even more accessible...
How to Stock Your Pantry With Native American Foods From Across the Continent: A new online marketplace sources ingredients from New York to Nevada.
by Tsanavi Spoonhunter August 13, 2021
When Ben Jacobs was a child, his parents launched a business in downtown Denver, Colorado. Grayhorse: An American Indian Eatery, was the first of its kind. But two years into the venture, the family closed the restaurant and moved on.
Decades later, the memories of Grayhorse’s mission inspired Jacobs and his business partner, Matt Chandra, to launch their own restaurant in Denver in 2008. Today, the duo runs Tocabe, the largest Native-American owned and operated restaurant chain in the United States. “What we wanted to do was take my parent’s original concept and re-adapt that,” says Jacobs, a citizen of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma. “And create a space for not only Native food, but Native community at the same time.”
Jacobs and Chandra developed a menu featuring products from Native American tribes and tribal citizens in the United States. But when the pandemic hit— forcing them to temporarily close their restaurants— the duo pondered the idea of opening a Native American food marketplace, online.
In June, they officially launched Tocabe Indigenous Marketplace, making it possible to purchase ingredients featured at Tocabe directly from the producers. “We decided to work with the partners that we already had in the Native supply chain,” explains Jacobs.
The products are often heirloom ingredients local to a particular region, such as traditionally harvested wild rice from northern Minnesota and cornmeal from Colorado. Making regional foods more accessible is “the whole point of what we’re doing ” says Jacobs, noting that a single online marketplace “can help bring a broader reach” for Native producers across the country.
Creating an online market was also an attempt “to keep the food system thriving,” Jacobs says, referring to the food supply chain for many tribal nations across the United States. In many cases, the supply chain isn’t sustainable, often because of a lack of investment. A recent study found that many Indigenous communities, particularly in rural and remote areas, have very few nearby places to buy food, or none at all. Buying products directly from Native American farmers, cooks, and craftspeople, then, brings cash flow to communities while making locally made food even more accessible...
