Before even the idea of a United States, Indigenous communities referred to the vast expanse of what is now North America, with its mountains and plains, rivers and lakes, as Turtle Island. Just as a turtle’s shell has segments (scutes), the various groups each had their own sections of the continent, linked through tradition and ways of eating.

Highlighting that past is at the heart of chef Sean Sherman’s work. He sees food and restaurants as a way to both discuss this history, and bring into the present. “I really want people to learn about the land that they are on,” he said.

A tribal member of the Oglala Lakota and the executive director of NATIFS, an Indigenous food lab, Sherman, 51, is the country’s leading voice on Native American cooking. On Tuesday, he released “Turtle Island: F

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