Chef, restaurateur and author Sheldon Simeon during a session of “Plants, Culture and Cuisine” (Image courtesy Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden)
On Tuesday evening, chef, restaurateur and author Sheldon Simeon, known for his appearances on the culinary competition reality series “Top Chef,” spoke to a virtual audience about taro root, a versatile vegetable with over 600 varieties and flavor profiles from starchy to sweet that is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants.
“Taro is the most important crop of Hawaii. … An entire civilization was built around the taro, the whole cuisine was built around the taro, a whole existence,” says Simeon, who operates Tin Roof restaurant in Hawaii.
And while taro was used by ancient Hawaiians for everything from food to medicine, its history, along with many other Indigenous stories, has been suppressed. The “Plants, Cuisine and Culture” series, hosted by Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden along with partners Missouri Botanical Garden, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Chicago Botanic Garden, and Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, aims to change that.
During the hourlong webinars, renowned chefs, culinary historians and James Beard Award-winning authors from cultures around the world explore foodways and their intimate link to our cultural identities.
“So much of the world’s cuisines really are shaped by the plants that were used to create it,” says Megan Compton, adult learning coordinator for Lewis Ginter. “That’s what I think is really interesting, and I hope this is something that offers exposure for people, but also provides a way to realize how much plants are a part of each of our cuisines as well.”
With Lewis Ginter for over a decade, Compton, a history buff, says that in recent years she realized that one of the areas in which they were lacking program-wise was the food and drink realm. Following a focus group with fellow botanical gardens and conservatories across the country, Compton and her counterparts decided to join forces to present a multipart web series. Compton says the virtual setting allows the organizations to share resources, offer lower costs to attendees and reach a wider audience.
Kicking off the series at the end of January was Oglala Lakota Sioux chef Sean Sherman, an author and James Beard Award winner who celebrates Indigenous cuisine. There were over 300 attendees for the live event (the seminars are recorded and available to ticket holders after the event).
“We’re hoping to have [the series] cover a wide variety of cultures,” Compton says. “I’m really excited to see the whole series come together. One other thing I’m trying to do as well is bring in some in-person activities that relate to the series.”
Last month, the garden hosted Joseph Rocchi, citizen of the Pamunkey Tribe of Virginia, for the program “One Native Chef’s Journey to Cultural Culinary Discovery and Understanding.” Rocchi discussed everything from food sovereignty and colonization to pre-Colonial Indigenous foods and held a fry bread demo. Compton says she is currently working with “Setting the Table” podcast host Deb Freeman to introduce a duo of classes as part of the garden’s summer schedule called “The Black Garden” and “Lost Spirits: The Legacy of African American Brewers and Distillers.”
Compton says guests have shared that their historical knowledge has been reawakened, and she feels the same way.
“I didn’t realize that so much has been done to suppress Indigenous foodways in the U.S. … So much of what the native chefs are having to do now is really a journey of rediscovery to learn what is their traditional cuisine,” she says.
The upcoming lineup for “Plants, Cuisine and Culture” includes Indian cuisine with Food Network host and judge Simon Majumdar on Monday, May 8; African American cuisine with Toni Tipton-Martin on Tuesday, July 25; and Mexican cuisine with chef and TV personality Pati Jinich on Tuesday, Sept. 26.
“Our hope is that it is something we can continue, ... hopefully beyond 2023,” Compton says of the series. “We’re also hoping people are along for the journey and people sign up for all the classes and come in and enjoy the in-person offerings that tie with it as well.”
Tickets for upcoming sessions of “Plants, Cuisine and Culture” are $10 each for Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden members and $12 each for nonmembers.
