By Ramon Shiloh (Executive Chef)
I’m an award-winning author, artist, multicultural chef of Black, Filipino, Creek, and Cherokee descent, as well as an activist for Native youth.
I was born in Palo Alto California in the middle of the Occupation of Alcatraz in 1970, which allowed me to forge allegiances with many Native luminaries my mother knew in the late ’70s to early ’90s, including friendships with John Trudell, Floyd (Red Crow) Westerman, comedian Charlie Hill, medicine man Leonard Crow Dog, and Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller (to name a few), and I’ve formed alliances with Native communities in the urban environments of Northern and Central California, Albuquerque New Mexico, and the Pacific Northwest since the early ’80s.
As a Native radio broadcaster, educator and sought-after storyteller, my mother surrounded me with Native perspectives and spiritual belief systems; this was simply our way of life.
After my mother’s passing in 1992, I picked up where she left off and dedicated my life to art and social activism in Native communities and remain dedicated to this day.
The influence of these incredible mentors shaped my worldview and taught me how to bridge the urban-native gap from social commentary to the food on our plates.
My goal is to honor the legacy of my mother’s work and finish what she started: Build better partnerships of understanding through food, Art, and political concerns in a native way.
Photo of me Speaking with Executive Director Lisa Fruichantie during our Puyallup Land Acknowledgment Ceremony with Permanent Installation by @paige_pettibon (September 29th, 2021) Photo of my mother speaking as guest speaker for the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, with Wilma Mankiller in 1982-‘84
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