Through Food and Culture, the East Bay Ohlone Are Repairing Centuries of Harm
February 11, 2026 | Source: Civil Eats | by Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino
Hello, horše tuuxi, I’m Vincent Medina. I’m Ohlone from halkin, in the San Francisco East Bay, and I grew up right here in my homeland, where my family has always been.
I’m Louis Trevino. Most importantly, I’m Vincent’s partner in life and in love, for which I am every day so very grateful. And I too am Ohlone from here in the East Bay, and I have dedicated myself to Vincent and to his beautiful and dynamic vision for our people and our land.
Medina: Our ‘ammatka Cafe, “the dining room” in our Chochenyo language, is high in the hills at the Lawrence Hall of Science, part of the University of California, Berkeley. The cafe is part of an initiative called ‘ottoy—meaning “to repair.”
A hundred years ago, UC Berkeley declared the Ohlone people extinct. That led to us being denied federal recognition, federal funding, and land rights.