Chef Bryce Stevenson is a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and an Indigenous chef dedicated to honoring Ojibwe foodways, culture, and food sovereignty. He grew up on the Red Cliff reservation in northern Wisconsin, where his early experiences with food and community shaped his desire to reconnect Indigenous people with traditional foods.
Stevenson studied English and Indigenous literature and creative writing at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee before pursuing his culinary career. He trained in Milwaukee kitchens, including Odd Duck and Ardent, and later served as executive chef at Indigenous Food Lab, working alongside renowned Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman. These experiences helped him develop a culinary approach centered on Indigenous ingredients, traditional food knowledge, and contemporary techniques.
In 2023, Stevenson opened Miijim on Madeline Island in Wisconsin. “Miijim” means food in Ojibwe. The restaurant presented seasonal Indigenous cuisine with French influences, featuring ingredients such as wild rice, venison, bison, rabbit, freshwater fish, mushrooms, ramps, maple, and other locally harvested foods. His cooking reflects the deep connection between Indigenous communities, the land, water, and traditional food systems.
Stevenson was named a 2024 James Beard Awards Emerging Chef semifinalist and appeared as a guest judge on Top Chef: Wisconsin, bringing national attention to Indigenous cuisine and Ojibwe food traditions.
Through his cooking, Stevenson works to make Indigenous foods accessible while preserving cultural knowledge and strengthening connections to community and place. His approach demonstrates how contemporary Indigenous cuisine can honor the past while creating new opportunities for people to experience and understand Native food traditions.
Hillel Echo-Hawk is a Pawnee and Athabaskan Indigenous chef, educator, speaker, and advocate for Indigenous food sovereignty. Born and raised in the interior of Alaska near the Athabaskan village of Mentasta, Hillel grew up surrounded by traditional foods, hunting, fishing, foraging, and the teachings of Indigenous community members. These experiences shaped her understanding of food as an essential part of culture, identity, health, and community.
After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts from Seattle Central College, Hillel worked in several Seattle restaurants before founding Birch Basket, a catering company centered on Indigenous foodways. Her cooking emphasizes Indigenous ingredients, traditional and contemporary techniques, and locally sourced and sustainably harvested foods.
Hillel is recognized for her work advancing Indigenous food sovereignty—supporting Indigenous communities’ ability to access, grow, harvest, prepare, and define their own traditional foods. Through culinary education, speaking engagements, and community events, she explores the connections among culture, wellness, land, history, and sustainability.
Her work brings greater visibility to Indigenous cuisine while honoring the knowledge and traditions passed down through generations. Through cooking and education, Hillel demonstrates how food can preserve cultural knowledge, strengthen community, honor Indigenous traditions, and create meaningful connections to land and heritage.
Stephanie “Pyet” DeSpain is an award-winning Indigenous and Mexican-American chef, entrepreneur, cookbook author, and culinary storyteller. A member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Pyet was raised between the Osage Indian Reservation in Oklahoma and Kansas City, Kansas, where food, family, and cultural traditions shaped her culinary identity.
Pyet is known for her Indigenous Fusion Cuisine, bringing together Indigenous and Mexican food traditions with contemporary culinary techniques. Her cooking celebrates ancestral ingredients, traditional foodways, wellness, sustainability, and the stories that connect food to culture and community. After attending L’École Culinaire, Pyet established Pyet’s Plate, a private-chef and catering business. She later moved to Los Angeles, where she expanded her work as a chef, culinary educator, speaker, and advocate for Indigenous food traditions.
She is the author of Rooted in Fire, her debut cookbook exploring Indigenous and Mexican culinary traditions through recipes, seasonal ingredients, personal stories, and ancestral foodways. Pyet’s work aligns naturally with Harborview’s cultural programming, where food can serve as a meaningful vehicle for cultural connection, storytelling, and community engagement. Her perspective offers an opportunity to recognize Indigenous heritage while creating space for people from diverse backgrounds to learn, share, and connect through food. Through culinary experiences, storytelling, and conversation, Pyet brings cultural traditions into an accessible and engaging setting—reinforcing the role that food can play in fostering belonging and honoring the histories and identities of the communities we serve.
