Native American 'slump': puffy dumplings in simmered fruit

Award-winning Indigenous chef Sherry Pocknett shares her most sought-after dessert – one that reminds her to pause and give thanks all year round.

Chef Sherry Pocknett, the first Indigenous woman to win a James Beard Foundation Award (she took home the 2023 title for Best Chef: Northeast), doesn't celebrate just one "Thanksgiving." Instead, she celebrates every harvest as a moment to pause, reflect and give thanks. During autumn, Pocknett said, "We're giving thanks to cranberries because cranberries are back." In the summer, Pocknett gives thanks to things like blueberries and strawberries. "Thanksgiving for me is giving thanks to a harvest… all these different things that come back yearly and they're still coming."

Pocknett is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which has had roots in modern-day Massachusetts and Rhode Island for more than 12,000 years. She owns the restaurant Sly Fox Den Too in Charlestown, Rhode Island. There, she serves food that highlights the indigenous cuisine of the Northeast – dishes like nausamp, a porridge-like dish made of dried corn; Indian pudding, a dessert made of molasses and cornmeal blended together; and blueberry slump, Pocknett's personal favourite.

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Blueberry slump is an indigenous dessert that has long been made by the different tribes of New England. Although some recipes call for the dumplings to be made with corn flour (cornmeal in the UK), Pocknett makes hers with wheat (all-purpose) flour because that's how she grew up eating it. 

"From Wampanoag to Shinnecock to Narragansett to Piqua, we all make blueberry slump, but mine is the best," she boasted. "As soon as I make it, the whole pot is gone. I can't keep enough of it," Pocknett said, referring to herself as "the best badass slump maker".

In the summer, Pocknett likes to use wild blueberries from Maine, but when blueberries are out of season, she opts for frozen ones. "You can get them most anywhere," Pocknett said, adding, "wild though ­­– it's got to be a wild blueberry." For Pocknett, wild blueberries imbue the dessert with an old-school flavour and a special sweetness.

"We have [slump] at our restaurant, and a lot of people don't know what it is," she said, going on to explain that she serves the slump warm, topped with vanilla ice cream. "When you take that first bite, you're going to fall in love," Pocknett said. "It melts in your mouth. And the burst of flavour during blueberry season is unbelievable."

Jeff Schear/Getty Images

Despite her affinity for blueberries, Pocknett has made the dish with all kinds of fruits, opting for peaches in the late summer and a mix of blueberries and cranberries in the fall.

Slump reminds Pocknett of picking blueberries while she was growing up. "When we were little, families used to go blueberry picking together, and it used to be like a challenge of who made the best blueberry slump, who made the best blueberry muffins, or blueberry pie. And my mother always won."

Pocknett's introduction to the restaurant business started when she was a child working at her uncle's restaurant, which served the kind of seasonal, native food that she ate at home. Ever since those early days, it was her dream to open a restaurant of her own. She made that dream come true in 2021 when she opened Sly Fox Den Too.

These days, Pocknett is battling breast cancer, and her daughters are operating the restaurant, but she's also working on a new project: a cultural centre, slated to open in the spring or summer of 2024.

Sly Fox Den Restaurant & Cultural Center is intended to, in Pocknett's words, "show that this is how we lived". She plans for there to be a "living museum" complete with an outdoor kitchen, an oyster farm, and a "three sisters garden" filled with corn, beans and squash. The idea is to educate people on the daily life of a Native American person from the Northeast. "[It] doesn't have to be Wampanoag. It could be Piqua, it could be Narragansett, it could be Shinnecock, because we all basically lived the same type of lifestyle and harvested the same type of foods."

Although modern technology and infrastructure have changed some things about that lifestyle, much has stayed the same. "We don't live in wigwams anymore, we live in a traditional home, but we still forage from the land. We still hunt. We still fish. We still live our lifeways by our culture, and we speak our language. We dance our dance and pray to the creator."

When Pocknett talks about the food she cooks and the life she lives, she's careful to acknowledge her gratitude as well as the challenges in our world today. "We really need to wake up, pay attention and take care. Do your part. Do your part so we can stay giving thanks to these things."

BBC World's Table

Blueberry and Cranberry Slump recipe

By Sherry Pocknett

Serves 4

Method

Step 1

In a medium bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the dumplings and set aside.

Step 2

In a large pot, bring the water to a boil, then add blueberries, cranberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt. Bring up to a boil again. As the berries simmer, add spoonfuls of the dumpling mixture to the pot. Once all of the dumpling mixture is transferred to the pot, turn the flame down to low and let cook, covered, for 25 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream.

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