Brian Yazzie, known as Yazzie the Chef is a Navajo chef. He celebrates and promotes Indigenous American foods. He was born in the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...

in Dennehotso, Arizona. He moved to Minnesota in 2013. In 2014, he became the chef de cuisine at

Sean Sherman Sean Sherman (born 1974) is an Oglala, Oglala Lakota Sioux chef, cookbook author, forager, and promoter of indigenous cuisine. Sherman founded the indigenous food education business and caterer The Sioux Chef, as well as the nonprofit North Ameri ...

's the Sioux Chef. In 2016, Yazzie and his wife Danielle Yazzie-Polk founded Intertribal Foodways, a catering company in St. Paul. The company prepares Indigenous meals and leads demonstrations for Native American communities. In 2020, he started working at Gatherings Cafe, but it shut down due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, he partnered with the Minneapolis American Indian Center to prepare hundreds of meals for elderly people and delivering them for free. Yazzie is a member of I-Collective, a group of indigenous chefs, farmers, foragers, hunters, and food historians. He is also involved with Slow Food and was a delegate to

Terra Madre Salone del Gusto Organized by Slow Food, the Region of Piedmont and the City of Turin, Terra Madre Salone del Gusto is an international gastronomy exhibition that takes places every two years in Turin, bringing together food producers and artisans from across the w ...

in Turin, Italy and to Indigenous Terra Madre in Japan. PBS's

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence H ...

made an episode of their series of shorts "alter-NATIVE: Kitchen" about Yazzie.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yazzie, Brian 21st-century Native Americans Native American chefs Navajo people People from Apache County, Arizona Year of birth missing (living people) Living people