FEATURING:
Elena Terry is the Executive Chef/Founder of Wild Bearies, a non-profit community outreach catering organization. She is also the Food and Culinary Program Coordinator for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. One of her passions has been developing mentorship programs that help build stronger communities within the Indigenous Food Sovereignty movement, while empowering participants and establishing healthy relationships. As a seed to table chef, Elena advocates highly for indigenous and organic growers and producers. She utilizes her partnerships with the Intertribal Agriculture Council, University of Wisconsin, several tribal farms and her own farm to provide and preserve ancestral ingredients in her community. In promoting the use of traditional ingredients and methods of cooking, she also partners with ethnobotanists to provide education about wild food and foraging in the communities she works with. Elena started as a traditional and ceremonial cook, is a wild game specialist and prefers open-fire, outdoor cooking; however she is also a trained chef and loves to challenge herself in executing multi-course, plated meals.
Connect with Chef Elena here: