We kicked off our exploration of the history of San Francisco with a meal celebrating Indigenous foodways. In the classroom, the second and third graders watched a short film featuring the Ohlone chefs and activists Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino. We discussed what a hunter-gatherer food system is and learned that the Ohlone, the Indigenous peoples of what is now known as the San Francisco Bay Area, are still here and still thriving. I shared that I ate at the Cafe Ohlone space in the back of the University Press bookstore depicted in the film and shared a photo of Harvey Milk fourth and fifth graders eating at a new Cafe Ohlone space on the land that is now the UC Berkeley campus in January 2023. Harvey Milk students got to meet Vincent and Louis in person, and I hope our current second and third graders will have this experience in the future, too. You can read more about Vincent and Louis’s organization, mak—’hamham, and their current project, Ohlone Land, here.
In the kitchen, we made a salad inspired by native plants and animals. Most of the produce and eggs we eat now are sourced from farms, but we captured the spirit of the bounty of our local environment. The chefs had a chance to use the mortar and pestle, the salad spinner, and the mezzaluna knife, and worked with ingredients such as quail eggs, edible flowers, and elderberry juice that may not play a regular part in our home pantries. It’s going to be a great unit—their energy is infectious!
