Indianz.Com > News > Native America Calling: The future of SNAP, logging’s effects on food, and Native culinary arts grads on The Menu
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Native America Calling
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Native America Calling: The future of SNAP, logging’s effects on food, and Native culinary arts grads on The Menu
Friday, May 30, 2025

The Menu: The future of SNAP, logging’s effects on food, and Native culinary arts grads
President Donald Trump’s proposed spending plan, dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill,” would cut about $300 billion from the program that provides food to low-income residents. If it survives Congress intact, thousands of Native people will lose eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program at the Department of Agriculture.

Tribes and conservation groups worry the Trump administration’s push for expanded logging of federal land poses a threat to Indigenous foods, like salmon.

Nicole Livingston is one of a handful of students who graduated this semester from the only tribal college culinary arts program at Navajo Technical University. She’s off to an internship at the country’s most renown Indigenous restaurant: Owamni in Minnesota by Sean Sherman, also known as the Sioux Chef.

Join Native America Calling to talk about these topics on The Menu, a regular feature on Indigenous food sovereignty hosted by Andi Murphy.

Indigenous Food & Agriculture Initiative
Crops. Photo courtesy Indigenous Food & Agriculture Initiative

Guests on Native America Calling
Kelli Case (Chickasaw), staff attorney at the Indigenous Food & Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas School of Law

Brian Tatsukawa, culinary arts instructor at Navajo Technical University, a tribal college on the Navajo Nation

Nicole Livingston (Diné), graduate of the culinary arts program at Navajo Technical University

Erik Holt (Nez Perce), chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe Fish and Wildlife Commission in Idaho

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