Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT
Chef Sherry Pocknett — whose Sly Fox Den Too restaurant features traditional foods with the seasons— has become the first Indigenous woman to win a prestigious James Beard Award as best chef in the Northeast.
A semifinalist among 20 other chefs and one of four finalists, Pocknett, Mashpee Wampanoag, was honored at the James Beard Foundation’s annual awards ceremony in Chicago on June 5.
The Sly Fox Den Too, which opened in 2021 in Charlestown, Rhode Island, is named after her late father, former Mashpee Wampanoag Chief Sly Fox Vernon Pocknett.
Pocknett accepted the award in traditional regalia after finishing up a round of chemotherapy.
“I have cancer,” she said at the ceremony. “I’m sure I’m not the only one in the room that does, but I’m almost through it. This honor is just unbelievable. It’s something that I never even dreamed of. Thank you.”
Pocknett told ICT recently she was proud to be representing her roots and her tribe.
“It’s like the Academy Awards — red carpet, the whole nine yards,” she said. “It was in Chicago at the Lyric Opera House. Lots of famous chefs were there; it was a black tie affair. And for me, black tie is my traditional outfit …. I wore my regalia and people were shocked to see that. But I mean, that was the highest honor that I could give them.”
Pocknett didn’t expect to win.
“Honestly, I was up against four amazing chefs,” she said. “I didn’t even write a speech.”
Family traditions
Pocknett has been cooking since growing up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the 1960s. She is now joined by her daughters, Jade Pocknett-Galvin and Cheyenne Pocknett-Galvin, serving traditional dishes that include fish, venison and squash.
She was heavily influenced by her father.
“The Sly Fox was my dad,” she said. “He was a hunter and fisherman. He foraged for everything. He had six kids, and he taught all of us kids everything … how to hunt, how to fish, how to forage, how to live by the season, the bounty of the season.”
Pocknett began running a food stand at powwows throughout the East Coast, and had chosen Sly Fox Den as the name for the stand. It stuck.
“I just kept it going,” she said. “That’s how I got a name for myself.”
She also provided catering services, particularly at tribal events and powwows.
“I did a lot of catering and I love catering,” she said. “That’s what I really love to do. And we ended up keeping the name for a restaurant. That’s our trademark. And now we’re booming.”
In 2019, she bought a 3.5-acre, waterfront property in Preston, Connecticut, on a bay known as Poquetanauck Cove, with plans to turn it into a restaurant and cultural center that includes vegetable gardens, oyster beds, canoes and interactive traditional homes. Then the pandemic hit in 2020, and they put the project on hold.
“The world shut down because of the pandemic,” she said. “I was in ceremony later on that year, in October, I think, and ran across this little restaurant with a sign. It said, ‘For Rent.’ I thought, ‘Nobody’s jumping on restaurants right now. That’s for sure.’ So, I talked to the owner, and I ended up with a lease.”
The smaller restaurant in Rhode Island, opened in 2021, with help from fundraising efforts. It was named Sly Fox Den Too; she expects the original site to open sometime in 2024 with the name, Sly Fox Den.
She also operates her catering business from the Rhode Island site, with help from her daughters.
“It’s not easy to open a restaurant legally,” she said, laughing. “But it happened.”
She is now focused on finishing out the original site in Connecticut, with help, again, from fundraising.
“The good part about that restaurant, it’s right on the bay, and it’s a 200-seat restaurant,” she said. “We’re going to do a living Native American museum outside, and try to do an oyster farm on the shores.”
A gift from Creator
The James Beard Award, meanwhile, has brought unexpected attention to her work.
“Everywhere I go now, people recognize me, and congratulate me, my family, my friends, my colleagues,” she said. “Everybody’s just ecstatic about this award. And I am just overwhelmed with all of the attention, but it’s beautiful and it’s something that’s so good.
“It’s something that I love so much, to be cooking, and people recognizing it, and getting an award for it,” she said. “How good can it get? How much better can it get?”
But Pocknett is keeping her eyes on the work.
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“I didn’t want to be cocky, but honestly, I’m a great cook,” she said. “I’m a fabulous cook. I can probably make anything out of anything, and that’s what I do. That’s the gift Creator gave me. That’s what I’m here for, for a short period of time … I have loads of gratitude and I just want to help people and teach people about Indigenous cuisine, not only from the Northeast, but I’ve been learning stuff from all of Turtle Island.”
As for celebrating after the win, Pocknett did not have the energy.
“I went back to the room and went to bed; it was too much,” she said. “I had just finished chemo. So, it was pretty tough, because I can’t walk that far because I get too winded. I don’t have the energy level … but I made it through. We went to dinner the next day because I just wanted to go, and go to sleep. After I won, I got to meet some fabulous celebrities, have some food with food people, and that was like a dream come true, just to meet a few people.”
For now, she needs to focus on the breast cancer, and plans are underway for surgery, radiation and immunotherapy.
“Everybody says I’m so strong, but I’m really not, but I’m getting better,” she said. “My hair’s growing and everything. My hair was long, very, very long. And I had to shave it off because it just came out in gobs. So, my daughter just shaved it all off.”
But food is medicine for Pocknett, and as the reality of the big win sinks in, Pocknett is looking to the future with plans for the new restaurant and a cookbook, “The Bounty of the Season.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing what plays out after this, what happens now that I’m the best chef in the Northeast,” she said. “My restaurant is popping. My restaurant is full every day, which is going to help with building my other restaurant.”
She is planning additional fundraisers to help with the project.
“I have big plans,” she said. My mind never stops.”
More info
For more information about Sly Fox Den and Sly Fox Den Too visit the website.
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