UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Sustainability (SustainPSU) is wrapping up its semester of programming with both a Sustainability Showcase Series and an Intersections Film Series centered on Indigenous food and foodways.   

Chef Tawnya Brant — a Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) woman, Indigenous food sovereignty leader, restaurant owner, and recent "Top Chef Canada contestant" —will join SustainPSU for a series of events. Residing on the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in southern Ontario, Brant will share her expertise with our campus community through events hosted between Nov. 12 and 15. While on campus, she will participate in a variety of class visits, campus conversations, and public events, including but not limited to: 

• A keynote lecture is open to all from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in 132 Flex Theater, HUB-Robeson Center. Online attendance options are available for Commonwealth Campuses. Registration is required for online attendance. Please register here. 

• A lunch meet-and-greet on Wednesday, Nov. 13, from 11 am to 1:30 p.m. in West Food District, where visitors can taste some of Brant’s recipes. No registration is required. The event will take place in the buffet area. The standard rate for lunch is $13.15 for regular guests or $4.60 with a student meal plan. 

• A virtual (via Zoom) screening of the film "Gather" and post-film discussion featuring Brant from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Registration is required for all attendees here. 

SustainPSU is hosting Brant as part of its "Mind Over Matter" programmatic theme for the academic year, which seeks to highlight the abstract connections we all have to sustainability through the personal values we hold, the resilience we strive for, and the human-to-human and human-to-more-than-human relationships we create. 

“The connection between food and mindfulness might not seem obvious at first, but coming together to cook and eat a meal is a great way to connect and learn with other people,” said Jake Hohner, public programming intern with SustainPSU. “I hope that people will recognize the passion and culture that Chef Brant displays in her cooking and open themselves up to it.” 

Leslie Pillen, associate director of farm and food systems, said, “Growing our knowledge and awareness of traditional foodways is an important aspect of developing deeper connections with and respect for local and regional ecologies. It’s an honor to host Chef Brant at Penn State and bring our communities together to learn from her wisdom and experience in this space.” 

Brant said she has been connected to food her entire life. Growing up, she recalled her early youth in two stages: the “winter version” and the “summer version.” The winter involved heating water and ensuring enough wood was stocked before leaving for school, and the summer centered on weeding the garden before it got too hot outside. 

Brant entered the restaurant industry at age 12 when she developed a love for the kitchen. This love for cooking led to her participation in a culinary management program, before leaving to become a freelance chef, participating in everything from mom-and-pop shops to prime franchise restaurants. Following the birth of her first child, Brant changed her focus to return to her village at Ohswé:ken, where she opened her very own restaurant, Yawekon Foods, which means “it tastes good” in the Mohawk language.

For more information, or to express interest in partnering with SustainPSU to invite a future Showcase Speaker, contact Grant Rowe, SustainPSU’s public programming coordinator, at ger5277@psu.edu.