alter-NATIVE: Kitchen

Food can do so much more than nourish the body and delight the taste buds. A meal can spark curiosity and conversations, and bring culture to life. But crafting something so multilayered can be a tall order in our fast food world. Purveyors of America’s indigenous foods are up for the task, enthusiastically forging a resurgence of dishes that satisfy a new generation hungering for insight and a connection to native culinary delights. In this second season of alter-NATIVE, we meet Navajo/Diné, Brian Yazzie; Hawaiian, Kala Domingo; and Pawnee - Athabaskian, Hillel Echo-Hawk – three chefs preparing foods from their native cultures that sustained their communities for generations. Viewers learn how Yazzie brings indigenous cuisine back to his reservation, while in Seattle we spend time with caterer Echo-Hawk, where her focus is pre-colonial Native dishes. Across the Pacific, in Hawaii, Domingo delves into the intrinsic connection between family and food through the traditional art of Imu cooking - preparing a meal in an underground oven. Their work in and out of the kitchen explores how the process of cooking connects each of these chefs, personally, to their own histories, and what they in turn teach others by introducing us to dishes inspired by their people.