Career Roadmap
Ben's work combines: Food, Entrepreneurship, and Working with Others
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
In the culinary world, creators are looked down on if their food and restaurants appear outdated. On the other hand, people want Native cuisine—like any other piece of Native culture—to be old. They want and expect this old image of Native Americans. I disagree. Why can't we be just as modern, progressive, and creative with our food as everyone else? Of course, our ingredients are all tried and true to our past, but the idea and creation can be something new. We attempt to do that at Tocabe.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
History, General
University of Denver
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
I’m a member of the Osage Nation from northeast Oklahoma.
2.
My family and I moved to Denver, Colorado, where my parents opened a restaurant called Gray Horse: An American Indian Eatery.
3.
After college, I knew that I wanted to do something that was tied to my identity—for me, that was food.
4.
I was inspired by my parents’ restaurant and used it as a prototype to create my own restaurant where Native people and the community at large can both enjoy Native American cuisine.
5.
Together with my business partner, Matt Chandra, we opened Tocabe: An American Indian Eatery in 2008.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
Native American cuisine needs to fit an old, dated, historic image.
How I responded:
In the culinary world, creators are looked down on if their food and restaurants appear outdated. On the other hand, people want Native cuisine—like any other piece of Native culture—to be old. They want and expect this old image of Native Americans. I disagree. Why can't we be just as modern, progressive, and creative with our food as everyone else? Of course, our ingredients are all tried and true to our past, but the idea and creation can be something new. We attempt to do that at Tocabe.