We work towards the restoration of Ohlone Indian culinary traditions as a part of the larger, ongoing effort that empowers Ohlone people with our rich cultural identity.

In order to create food that is truly Ohlone and representative of the values our traditional cuisine upholds we reconnect with specific food traditions of our community, both ones that are practiced by elders in our families, as well as restoring older food traditions that are preserved in ethnographic documentation recorded by our communities in 1920s and 1930s. Through these methods, we are able to restore food traditions and bring these values and foods back into our daily lives and homes.

Through this process, we promote Ohlone culinary traditions and culture. We also celebrate introduced foods that were embraced by our Ohlone community generations ago, and through a process of Ohlone-ization, became part of our culinary culture on their own right.

All of our food stays as close as possible to the standards of our old ways of eating.

Essentially, the food we share at Cafe Ohlone is specific to the East Bay and Monterey regions — both culinary traditions before contact, and traditions that our family embraced after colonization. To do this, we gather in our homelands of the East Bay and the Carmel Valley for fruits, spices, nuts, herbs and teas in responsible methods. Due to a lack of land under our Ohlone stewardship as the result of the US government not recognizing the Ohlone people, as well as encroaching urbanization in our homelands, we have had to secure sustainable methods for game and other ingredients that are not as readily attainable so that we can create beautiful Ohlone foods that are prepared with our food ethos in mind.

Are you an Indigenous farmer/hunter/traditional gatherer and would you like to discuss a partnership with us? Please contact us here.

Our food is specific to us, and our food dispels stereotypes. Our culinary traditions better connects us to those we love, and to our beautiful land. By eating, cherishing and respecting these traditional foods and fully embracing our Ohlone culture, we honor our identities and the powerful people that we come from.