CELEBRATING TOP 3 AL 10 Top NATIVE CUISINE THE WALL

Long before foraging was the hot new thing and the term California cuisine was coined, native American cooks were celebrating the bounty of the land. Now a new wave of indigenous chefs and makers are evolving native food firsthand in fresh and exciting ways.

- KRISTA SIMMONS

THE STORY OF CAFE OHLONE 
VINCENT MEDINA AND LOUIS TREVINO ON THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR CULTURAL AND CULINARY PROJECT AT UC BERKELEY

What started in 2018 as a pop-up in the back of an off-campus bookstore has become a beacon of California Indigenous cuisine, where co-founders Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino celebrate the culinary heritage of the Ohlone tribe in the East Bay.

Medina and Trevino are activists whose medium of resistance happens to be food. When they were growing up in the East Bay, there was a dearth of storytelling surrounding the resilience of the Ohlone people. With their roving project known as Cafe Ohlone, they homed in on a means of culinary storytelling that showcases the vibrance of their culture. The latest iteration of Cafe Ohlone is 'ottoy, which means "to repair" in the Ohlone's Chochenyo language. This collaboration with the Hearst Museum at UC Berkeley is equal parts educational installation and degustation. The journey begins by walking through a serene outdoor space alive with plants from Oaktown Native Plant Nursery and birdsong harmonizing over the speakers. In an organic minmalist space designed by the landscape firm Terremoto, guests enjoy a meal interspersed with Medina's powerful voice sharing stories of Ohlone land, language, and culture.

There are several ways to visit 'ottoy, including weekly tea ceremonies, lunch tastings, dinners under the stars, and Sunday brunch. Meals are marked by dishes like soft-boiled quail eggs, cold-smoked trout, and a bay laurel-spiked salad of indigenous ingredients-all of which sing of the surrounding land and community.

Here Medina and Trevino share story of Cafe Ohlone and 'ottoy.

To start, tell us a bit about 'ottoy. What region and culinary traditions are you celebrating?