12 of the Best Places to Try Native American Food in Minnesota
Minnesota’s Native American food scene is brimming with the flavors of our unique locality from behind the scenes. Beyond the city lights, harvesters fill ice bins with walleye, perch, whitefish, trout, northern, and crappie from many of our more than 10,000 lakes.
In the spring, we tap maple trees in our yards and collect buckets of sap to boil down to make syrup of exceptional quality and taste. Wild vegetables and herbs, such as nettles, fiddleheads, and mints, are found in abundance in fields and forests.
Wild fruits can be found throughout Minnesota’s urban and rural areas in the summer and fall. These plants are hardy and produce lovely blooms that not only play an important ecological role but also accentuate public spaces with their beauty.
Fall also provides ample cool weather to get our canning in gear, stocking shelves and markets with bright and hearty flavors from the short growing season. In the winter, deer, bison, moose, and fish sustain us during the long months, while microgreens and other cool-weather hardy vegetables are grown in high tunnels.
The following list is by no means exhaustive. There are so many wonderful, hard-working, small businesses in our beautiful state. Several of the picks below feature authentic Native American art and craft items, and some host events open to the public in their communities as well. Please conduct some of your own research to find out where you can support Native-owned and operated food businesses in your area.
Chi-miigwech!
Restaurants & Cafes
Gatherings Cafe
Minneapolis
Situated inside the Minneapolis American Indian Center — a cornerstone of the American Indian Cultural Corridor — the newly expanded and renovated Gatherings Cafe now hosts one of the most compelling breakfast and lunch menus in the state.
Open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., it starts the day with dishes like root vegetable hash, cranberry French toast, and The Ave — eggs scrambled with dill, wild rice, onion, and feta. Come lunchtime, options range from braised bison tacos to a standout walleye melt, served with greens or chips and salsa for a hearty, satisfying meal that’ll please even early-dinner seekers.
Owamni
Minneapolis
Owamni is a Lakota-led, James Beard Award-winning, full-service Indigenous restaurant. Established in 2021, it is situated on the shores of the Mississippi River, right in front of the Stone Arch Bridge and next to gardens and walking/bike paths, making it a top destination in downtown Minneapolis.
Seasonal brunch, lunch and dinner menus feature incredibly creative items like chilaquiles with bison rib, bison brisket and a duck egg; game tartare served alongside garlic sage oil, cured egg yolk, huckleberry aioli, bison dust and fermented plum; and an Indigenous take on surf & turf featuring an elk T-bone, uni, lobster, and garlic bone marrow butter.
Vegans and vegetarians will find a wide variety of plant-based dishes to fill a table with as well; recent offerings have included seasonal maple-roasted squash tucked into slaw-and-mojo de ajo-topped tortillas; a stuffed poblano pepper with tepary bean, hominy picadillo, wild rice and green pepián mole; and white sweet potatoes with maple chili crisp and scallions.
Owamni also offers a pleasantly surprising non-alcoholic drink menu featuring savory, earthy and sweet concoctions that highlight the state’s Indigenous plants. We’re talking everything from a sour cocktail built on seasonal berries, sumac, and balsam fir to exclusive Anahata Herbals tea blends like Earthbound Roast, which is based around roasted chicory and hazelnuts, dandelion root, maple-infused burdock root, chaga, black currant, and sweet clover seed.
Coffee Shops
Makwa Coffee
Roseville
Located in Roseville’s Hamline Center strip mall, the family-owned Makwa Coffee (Makwa means "bear" in the Anishinaabe language) offers craft coffees and teas, as well as fresh pastries and bagged roasted beans to take on the go. They have a lovely indoor space to enjoy during business hours, and it’s available to rent by the hour in the evenings.
They also host free community events, including book clubs, local artist pop-ups, and meet-and-greets with adoptable dogs.
MiigWitches Brew
Cloquet
If you’re driving down the forested, rural Big Lake Road in Cloquet and see a bright blue with red trim kiosk on the side of the road, you have come to MiigWitches Brew. Opened in June 2024, this Native/woman/family-owned business services the Fond du Lac reservation and the surrounding area with gourmet coffee.
A local favorite is the maple latte, which sources its syrup from the nearby Spirit Lake Farms in Sawyer. You can also pick up sweet treats made by Baked to Bliss by Laney, which supplies the kiosk throughout the year.
Pop-ups & Catering
Intertribal Foodways LLC
Coon Rapids
Founded in 2016 by the now-husband-and-wife duo of Brian Yazzie and Danielle Polk, the Coon Rapids-based Intertribal Foodways provides culinary services nationally and internationally. Whether you need a buffet, appetizers, a multi-course pre-packaged meal, or tastings, Intertribal Foodways menu features delicious and healthy food that is Native to America, including bison, walleye, squash and corn.
They also provide presentations on food sovereignty, cooking classes, live demos, pop-ups, and residencies. As reflected in the motto “Wellness and Health through Indigenous Foods,” their mission is to work with and for the betterment of Tribal and allied communities.
Native Harvest Catering
Prior Lake
Owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Prior Lake, Native Harvest Catering specializes in buffet-style, farm-to-table dishes. It offers a wide menu and takes pride in sourcing its ingredients locally.
Offerings include a Native-to-Minnesota selection featuring a variety of signature wild rice bowls, as well as walleye, venison, rabbit, hominy cakes, and bison brats.
Native Producers & Makers
Baby Cakes Wild Rice
Cloquet
Owned by a mother-daughter team from the Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa, Baby Cakes Wild Rice has been in business for 10 years, selling family-harvested wild rice, maple syrup, and dishes utilizing organic, locally grown and harvested ingredients.
Popular items are the savory-sweet wild rice cupcakes with maple butter frosting, a variety of wild rice muffins, cookies, hearty soups, wild rice egg rolls, lasagnas and hot dishes. The family business spans generations of harvesters, food producers, and artisans, and is dedicated to inspiring the next.
To order, email [email protected] or visit their Facebook page.
Native Harvest Ojibwe Products
Callaway
A subdivision of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, located on the White Earth Nation in Callaway, Native Harvest Ojibwe Products has both a physical location and a popular online shop. Their focus is on seasonally procured natural Minnesota food products, including wild rice, maple syrup, and delicious, authentic Up North flavors like wild plum, chokecherry, and sumac berry jam and jelly.
Native Wise LLC
Sawyer
Native Wise LLC is a family-run farm located in Sawyer, supplying regional outlets with fresh bison meat cuts, vegetables, raw honey, wild rice, and maple syrup. You can pick up products directly from the farm by calling or emailing ahead to arrange a visit and receive pricing information.
Spirit Lake Native Farms
Sawyer
Co-owned by husband-wife duo Bruce and Tawny Savage and tucked into the beautifully forested Tribal land of the Fond du Lac band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Spirit Lake Native Farms specializes in Native wild rice and pure maple syrup year-round. The green wild rice processing building is surrounded by a forest of maples tapped for the pure syrup produced on site.
In addition to offering tours of their wild rice and maple syrup processing facilities, they also have a gift shop on site.
Shops
Indigenous First Art & Gift Shop
Duluth
Run by the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO), a cultural hub in hillside Duluth, Indigenous First has a nice selection of shelf-stable food offerings from Native producers, including coffee beans, wild rice, honey, maple syrup, yellow, blue and white cornmeal, jams, fruit syrups, hot sauces, and a variety of tea blends.
Indigenous First is located in the AICHO building and offers curbside pickup.
Nawapo
Bemidji
Owned and operated by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians since July of 2023, Nawapo’s mission is “to give buyers a unique marketplace, supporting authentic Indigenous creators.” Their most popular items are Red Lake Nation Foods wild rice, jams and jellies.
They also offer food products from Native producers across the country, including Pemmican Patty bison bars (North Dakota) and Sakari Farms tea (Oregon).
Nawapo is currently mostly an online shop, but they have a brick-and-mortar in Bemidji. Find out more by emailing [email protected].
Find out more ways to support and celebrate Minnesota's Tribal members here.
