PROVIDENCE — The best chef in the Northeast is based right here in Rhode Island. Sherry Pocknett, the owner and chef at Sly Fox Den Too in Charlestown, R.I., received a James Beard Award last week in Chicago, making history as the first Indigenous woman chef to receive that honor.
On the Rhode Island Report podcast, Pocknett said she felt her grandmother’s spirit was with her as she won the award on her grandmother’s birthday. “My grandmother taught me everything, starting from a very early age,” she said. “So I just felt her and I felt my dad, and if you believe in spirit, it’s a natural thing. And they carry you there.”
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Pocknett, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, said she focuses on Indigenous food of the Northeast. “We’re coastal, so it’s a lot of fish. You know, in the wintertime, it’s rabbit, ducks, and deer meat. It’s really foods that I grew up with.”
And she said she is trying to pass on those food traditions to the younger generation.
“We’ve got to do it for the next seven generations,” she said. “We have to make sure that our kids know and they receive the information — not just giving one class. We want to make sure they feel the love of the food that you’re cooking, or the blueberries that we’re going to get ready to go pick.” She noted it’s strawberry season, saying she plans to take her grandchildren strawberry picking.
But local food sources are threatened by climate change and pollution, Pocknett said. “It’s horrible,” she said. “We’ve got to wake up. There’s less fish,” she said, emphasizing just how much less. “As a little kid, I could reach both hands in the water and grab two fish with each hand — two herring with each hand.”
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But that’s not possible now, Pocknett said. “Pretty soon we’re not going to have no clean water — there’s not going to be any fish that you can eat,” she said. “This all boils down to keeping the land clean and making sure we can harvest off the land, making sure that we can eat out of your backyard.”
On the podcast, Pocknett also talked about her plans for a larger restaurant, “living museum,” and oyster farm in Preston, Conn.
To get the latest episode each week, follow Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @FitzProv.