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One-of-a-Kind Native American Restaurant, Cafe Ohlone, Nears its Berkeley Opening
Santa Cruz Sentinel ^

Posted on 04/04/2022 6:56:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway

When it opens this spring at UC Berkeley, Cafe Ohlone will be a first of its kind, museum-like restaurant honoring every facet of Ohlone culture, from foraged indigenous foods to the Chochenyo language, which will be heard in songs emanating from among native trees.

Co-founders Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino started the cafe in 2018 in the courtyard of University Press Books. It was the first restaurant ever to showcase the foods of a people who have lived in the Bay Area for 10,000 years.

But this new, larger Cafe Ohlone will expand on that menu, introducing dishes like silky black oak acorn soup and seared venison backstrap, and serve as a community space for living Ohlone to attend language classes and other cultural activities. It comes on the heels of Oakland’s first Native American restaurant, Wahpepah’s Kitchen, which opened in November and whose chef, Crystal Wahpepah, is a finalist for the James Beard award for emerging chef.

“We want this to be a vibrant, thriving space to show our living culture, and where the primary goal is to provide that physical space our community has been lacking for so long,” Medina says.

And it will be housed in an unlikely location: In the courtyard of UC Berkeley’s Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, an institution that has long grappled with charges of historical wrongs against the Ohlone people by holding on to sacred Ohlone objects and thousands of ancestral remains.

Medina hopes the restaurant’s presence will bring forth an era of cooperation with the institution, creating avenues for communication and partnerships that reach far beyond the kitchen.

“We understand that the cafe on its own isn’t going to be repatriating our ancestors,” Medina says. “But climate and presence make a difference. We want to see greater healing, new beginnings and strengthening the relationships that have been developing.”

As Medina told the Bay Area News Group, the outdoor restaurant will be divided into three areas. A gated entry will reveal what he calls a “curated culinary and educational ex


TOPICS: Education; Food; Local News
KEYWORDS: food; ohlone; restaurant
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1 posted on 04/04/2022 6:56:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Mmm Acorn paste.


2 posted on 04/04/2022 6:58:02 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: nickcarraway

If I don’t eat there, am I racist?


3 posted on 04/04/2022 7:01:29 PM PDT by dynachrome ("I will not be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.")
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To: skeeter

I have a cookbook, always meant to try making acorns.


4 posted on 04/04/2022 7:01:40 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Is there a way to read it without subscribing?


5 posted on 04/04/2022 7:02:04 PM PDT by econjack (I'm not bossy. I just know what you should be doing.)
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To: dynachrome

If you eat there, you’re racist. They accept wampum or bitcoin.


6 posted on 04/04/2022 7:03:45 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: nickcarraway

They are very bitter!


7 posted on 04/04/2022 7:05:15 PM PDT by MomwithHope (Forever grateful to all our patriots, past, present and future.)
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To: nickcarraway
Only authentic recipes allowed.


8 posted on 04/04/2022 7:05:18 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: nickcarraway

makamham(dot)com/cafeohlone

Cafe Ohlone is a valuable and necessary space for Ohlone cultural identity in the East Bay, where tradition flourishes in a modern-day setting. We have waited since our early closure

https://www.makamham.com/hiitiy-makamham-menu


9 posted on 04/04/2022 7:08:17 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!)
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To: nickcarraway

Native American cuisine is an acquired taste. The Wokies in Berkeley are going to have to make believe they like it when they first taste it. Most will be a one and done.


10 posted on 04/04/2022 7:10:17 PM PDT by chuckee
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To: nickcarraway

I’ll have bark with a side of moss.


11 posted on 04/04/2022 7:11:54 PM PDT by dead (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_vFiUUcBkc)
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To: nickcarraway

Yeah, I’ve had a real hankering for some clams and blackberries.


12 posted on 04/04/2022 7:12:00 PM PDT by gundog ( It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: nickcarraway

That’s not whetting my appetite.


13 posted on 04/04/2022 7:12:18 PM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Suppo)
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To: chuckee

If they do frybread, I’m in.

But that seems sort of controversial.


14 posted on 04/04/2022 7:15:20 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Rummyfan
Ohlone culture, from foraged indigenous foods to the Chochenyo language?????

..........................................................

Never heard of this.....

I have heard of Abalone though...and have ate it.

I'm part Native Pottawatomi...and speak some...but not much.

15 posted on 04/04/2022 7:20:01 PM PDT by Osage Orange (1961 VW Two Door Truck)
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To: nickcarraway

Happy Hour- two for one firewater.


16 posted on 04/04/2022 7:24:59 PM PDT by MuttTheHoople (The best slaves put their own chains on )
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To: gundog

” clams and blackberries.”

Without food stamps it would be a summer staple for the poor in coastal towns.


17 posted on 04/04/2022 7:31:33 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Rebelbase

I dunno. Most seem too stupid to figure it out. I hike through some homeless camps on my way to the grocery store. I’m making mental notes of the edible plants I see. No wild walnuts around here, but I recognize the mussels, clams, blackberries, oxalis and tomato in that dish. Transportation will be a big deal if things get much worse. A bike ride to an area I could dig a few clams might be fun.


18 posted on 04/04/2022 7:40:47 PM PDT by gundog ( It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: nickcarraway

Wonder if they will serve these foods...The Piutes ate pounded earthworms, others ate maggots.

https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/how-native-americans-used-insects-in-their-cooking/


19 posted on 04/04/2022 7:41:49 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (No dog in the Unraine war, but we still root for the underdog.)
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To: nickcarraway; ApplegateRanch

I will say that the venison backstrap looks pretty good.


20 posted on 04/04/2022 7:49:40 PM PDT by dynachrome ("I will not be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.")
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