(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Chef Nico Albert Williams: Food and Cultural Identity [1] ['Julie Wenger Watson'] Date: 2023-12-27 14:41:40+00:00 Growing up, Nico Albert Williams enjoyed helping her mom shop for ingredients and prepare meals, but it never occurred to her she might actually want to become a chef. Instead, she dreamed of a career as a Navy SEAL or photojournalist. “I grew up in a family where cooking was just something that we always did. It was very normal to me,” she recalls. “Later in life, I realized most people didn’t grow up this way, and that I was very fortunate to grow up in a family where we ate dinner together around the dining table every single night.” But like a slow-simmering pot, those culinary skills she learned from her mom eventually came in handy when Williams started working in restaurants years later, every position from hostess and server to bartending and prep work, gaining valuable experience along they way. As Williams describes it, her decision to become a chef was more practical than romantic. She needed a steady income. While Williams didn’t pursue a formal training program, she worked hard to learn from those around her in the kitchen. “I had the basic skills, and then I just found a way to get the job, and it all just fell into place,” she recalls. “I discovered that I had a natural knack for it. It made sense to me, and my hands felt right.” While Williams was working her way through the industry ranks to eventually serve as the executive chef at a several local restaurants, her interest in Indigenous foods was also growing. “Food became my gateway to reconnect with my Cherokee community because I grew up away from Oklahoma,” she says. “The more I learned about my own culture, my own identity, the more I incorporated Indigenous food as an influence in my cooking, and the more opportunity I had to bring it into the menus that I was creating.” For Williams, that desire to express Indigenous values and identity through food eventually ran up against the reality of corporate restaurant culture. “The cultural significance of the ingredients, how they were grown, where they were grown, and who grew them – all of those things are very important in Indigenous food,” she says. “There is still a separation of Indigenous values inherent in the restaurant industry.” Ultimately, Williams made a decision to “decolonize” her livelihood, creating the nonprofit Burning Cedar Sovereign Wellness, where she serves as executive director. Located in a house near E. 49th St. and S. Peoria, Burning Cedar is “dedicated to bringing the knowledge of healthy traditional foodways and Indigenous wellness practices to Native families and individuals living in the urban Tulsa area.” The organization hosts educational and community events. Profits from Burning Cedar’s catering and consulting business, which specializes in Native foods, support its mission. Williams loves her work. “I like making people feel good with the food that I’m making now because there’s an element of healing and wellness to it,” she says. “I think the story that goes along with it makes people feel like they’re having a good experience and gives them some sense of peace after eating.” For more information, visit burningcedar.org. So You Want to Be a Chef? For students who want to explore culinary arts beyond their home kitchen, Tulsa Technology Center offers an affordable program, with plenty of hands-on experience. “The Tulsa Technology culinary program is a two-year program,” says KateLynn Dunning, Tulsa Tech culinary instructor, who currently teaches first-year students. “My class can accept both juniors and seniors in high school, as well as adults, whether that adult means, ‘I’m 19 years old, and I graduated from high school last year,’ or ‘I’m 65, and I always dreamt of going to culinary school.’ So I have quite the assortment of students in my classroom.” Dunning’s students are interested in everything from improving their cooking or working in a restaurant to operating their own a food truck or opening a bakery. The program is accredited by the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education and offers several certifications, and many of the students are already employed when they complete the program. “We do something called the ‘Work Based Learning Program.’ During the second semester of their first and second years, students have to go out and find a food service job,” Dunning says. “They get a paid job, and part of their education hours are being earned in the workforce. Those relationships then carry on outside of graduation, so most of our students graduate, and they’ve had a job for five months.” For more information on Tulsa Tech high school programs, visit tulsatech.edu. For more information on concurrent enrollment, visit tulsaschools.org. 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