On the last Wednesday of February, at 6:00 PM, a crowd of students, staff, faculty, and community members huddled in the warmth of La Casa Cultural de Julia de Burgos. Even though the sun had set half an hour before, attendees were welcomed by a beautiful sunset painted on the kitchen wall. From the horizon emerges a long table surrounded by folks of all generations ready to eat.
“Spot the Inca Cola?” Rebecca Sosa-Coba '26 motioned to the iconic yellow and blue logo as friends gathered around the mural to take in all the details. Sosa-Coba, along with Zoe Cire MFA '24, a graduate-affiliate at the Native American Cultural Center, led a community-wide effort to create a mural for La Casa Cultural’s newly renovated kitchen.
After attendees served themselves dinner—orange chicken, chickpea stew, rice, beans, pork pupusa and loroco pupusa, and agua jamaica—catered by Sandra Trigueros and Elmer Galvez of La Cocina de Sandra, Woesha Hampson-Medina '18 presented "Savoring Stories: Indigenous Foodways and Community Building at la Mesa" as part of our Chewing the Fat speaker series in partnership with La Casa Cultural de Julia de Burgos.
Hampson-Medina is a San Diego native with Mexican, Chippewa, and Ho-Chunk roots. She first took us to the tables that ignited her passion for food and cooking. Hampson-Medina shared several stories, from those involving women in her life within the kitchen to the cultural practices surrounding funeral practices on her father’s side.
The next part of her presentation took us on her journey to Yale. Wanting to understand food at a molecular level, she studied chemistry at Yale, with a thesis examining the mechanisms of kimchi fermentation. Outside of the classroom, Hampson-Medina began to parse out her identity both through the Native American Cultural Center and La Casa Cultural, ultimately finding community through food.
The power of connecting across cultures through a meal was further emphasized after leaving Yale. Right before the pandemic, she went on to earn her Masters in World Food Cultures and Mobility at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy with a focus on the indigeneity of maple syrup. Since then she has worked in many food-focused roles across industries, but is most inspired when working with food at the heart of building community.
Throughout the event, Hampson-Medina spoke with nuance about her Mexican, Chippewa, and Ho-Chunk roots and how it shaped her career and the communities she hopes to work alongside throughout her life. She pointed out that while she grew up relatively far from her Chippewa and Ho-Chunk relatives, meals are a vital way of finding community, connection, and continuation of cultural practice. Currently, she is the Food Grant Program Manager at Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians.
In dialogue with the kitchen mural unveiling, Woesha’s presentation highlighted the importance of food and cultural identity, the importance and presence of Indigeneity in a space such as La Casa, and the importance of alumni who have made and continue to be a part of La Casa’s vibrant community. Many thanks to Woesha for sharing her journey through food at and beyond Yale. We also want to express our gratitude to La Casa Cultural Assistant Dean Eileen Galvez, Assistant Director Carolina Davila, and mural leaders Zoe Cire '24 and Rebecca Sosa-Coba '26 for bringing so much meaning to Woesha’s visit. This event was supported by the Traphagen Alumni Speakers Series of the Yale College Office of Student Affairs.
Photos from the event can be found here. Photos taken by Sumarha Tariq '27.