Building a Business Rooted in Indigenous Values
Tanka Bar
D
awn Sherman (Lakota, Shawnee, and Delaware Tribes) is the CEO of Native American Natural Foods LLC, home to the Tanka brand, a B-corp minority certified owned and minority-led company. Recently, Cultural Survival’s Indigenous Rights Radio Producer, Shaldon Ferris (KhoiSan), spoke with Sherman.
Cultural Survival: Tell us how Tanka came to be one of the most recognized Native American-owned brands. Dawn Sherman: Native American Natural Foods was built
out of the Pine Ridge Reservation, which is the people of Oglala Lakota. It was built out of the community from the ground up by two grassroots members and social entrepreneurs, Mark Tilsen and Karlene Hunter, in 2007. Tanka was the first product of its kind and it was based on a timehonored recipe that our ancestors have used (and still use to this day) called wasna. This traditional recipe was modernized by the founders and the Tanka bar was made. The bar itself is tender, savory, and sweet, and the mouthfeel that you’re getting is from the 100 percent bison. It also has tart, sweet cranberries in it. It is a blend of taking the fruit, which has high acidity, and the meat and preserving it. It’s a natural process that we used to preserve meat throughout the months in the winter to sustain us. CS: What are the Indigneous values and principles that the company was built and operates on? DS: In our community, bison is what we call “our sister
nation.” It’s a sacred animal and we were actually born of the buffalo. There’s a sacred place in the Black Hills—we were born from that area within this cave. When we first were born, we actually came out as the four-legged, which was the buffalo. As the rest of our people came out, they stayed people, but we were told to follow the buffalo, that they are our life giver. There’s that direct correlation, because they provide our food, they provide our housing, they provide our clothing, and our economy. They sustained us. Everything we do is to honor the buffalo. The first buffalo that was harvested with Tanka bar was donated by Parks and Rec on our reservation. It was killed ceremoniously and it was all done in prayer. Everything that we do as Tanka and ourselves comes from that creation story, because it’s always honoring the animal. We were told at the beginning of Tanka in prayer that as long as we honor the buffalo, we’ll be successful. We always instill those Indigenous values—taking care of the animals. We’re stewards, you know, we have to take care of them. And the environment. And the Earth. 24 • www. cs. org
