ACTOR
Chef Joe Rocchi (Pamunkey Citizen) holds a BS in Culinary Arts and has more than two decades of culinary industry experience. As a licensed ServSafe instructor, he has been a consultant, chef, and executive across Philadelphia and is currently the Culinary Education Director at Franklin Towne Charter High School in Philadelphia.
Joe is passionately involved in research, education, and promotion of Indigenous food sovereignty, the dietary effects of colonization, and pre- and post-colonial Indigenous foods. As a member of TEWFA (Traditional Eastern Woodlands Foodways Alliance) he develops a healthy and culturally relevant Indigenous school nutrition program.
“There is no singular defining native experience. Each of us walks our own path on the Red Road. The question is, are you walking toward community, or away from it?
And Gaby’s hair is still remarkably soft”...
—JOE ROCCHI, PAMUNKEY
“Unity – Cockacoeske’s Dilemma”, Joe & Warrior
Some of Joe’s many accomplishments include:
- Pamunkey events committee and museum advisory board
- Executive Board member for National Leadership Council of the Native American Food Sovereignty Association
- Member of the speaker’s guild for the Philadelphia Native American House Alliance
- Board of Directors for PAZA, Tree of Life
- Featured on PBS for inaugural Indigenous People’s Feast at William and Mary
- Contributing member for IndigiFoodDB, a database of Indigenous Foods, flavors, nutrition, and environmental impacts
- Was a SME for the Kitchen Managers Certificate program of the National Restaurant Assoc Education Foundation recognized by Dept. of Labor
- Two-time winner of the Rachel Ray ProStart Grow Grant for culinary arts development
- Keynote speaker for Philadelphia Board of Education Indigenous discussion panels and for institutions such as Penn State, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, the College of William & Mary, Princeton University, and University of Pennsylvania
