We started our exploration of the history of San Francisco with the Indigenous people of what is now called the San Francisco Peninsula, the Ohlone. In the classroom we watched a short film about the chefs and activists behind Cafe Ohlone (a restaurant just across the Bay Bridge we have taken multiple groups of Harvey Milk fourth and fifth graders to on field trips!). We learned that Ohlone foodways have been on this land since the beginning, are here in the present and thriving, and will continue to survive into the future.
In the kitchen we made a salad highlighting present-day descendants of native Bay Area plants and animals: blackberries, huckleberries, amaranth, sunflowers, amaranth, quail, elderberry, and walnut. The second and third grade chefs used a mortar and pestle to make a simple dressing, connecting to ancient food traditions and technology human beings have employed for thousands of years.
