Dave Smoke McCluskey: Corn Mafia (Augusta, GA)

Chef Dave “Smoke” McCluskey, an official member of the Mohawk nation, has spent more than 30 years in the culinary industry, in everything from fine dining kitchens to catering gigs to even organizing and hosting boucheries. Those are traditional gatherings centered around communal hog butchering that also offer a space to celebrate local foodways, and swap knowledge, stories, and seeds. It was at one such gathering that he was gifted some corn, and from that came Corn Mafia, his research, education and micromilling project to explore native foodways. He’s participated in many food festivals through the years, including in 2022, when he hosted a cooking demo as part of Virginia Tech’s Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation. He partners with South Carolina’s Congaree Milling to produce small batch products, from hominy to masa, which he primarily sells via word of mouth. Dave currently lives in Augusta and is the Chef de Cuisine at the Augusta Mariott Hotel.