A Wampanoag Thanksgiving
Growing up in the Cape Cod town of Mashpee in a tight-knit family that observed the traditions, culture, and lifestyle of the Wampanoag people, Sherry Pocknett discovered her love of cooking. When Pocknett was a child, she received an Easy-Bake Oven, and with that she found her passion. She roasted “whatever she could find in the refrigerator” — eels, slices of bear meat, fiddleheads. “I loved cooking for my brothers,” said Pocknett, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and a chef at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, in Mashantucket, Conn. “I love sharing the food I grew up with, and my culture with others.” And share she did. On a recent night, Pocknett came to Harvard’s Pforzheimer House with pots and pans filled with traditional Wampanoag dishes, as part of her mission to show that Native American food is much more than fry bread. Faculty Deans Anne Harrington and John Durant...