Recipes in pursuit of the American Dream
I'm not sure what I admire more in this world than a tough woman. You find a high concentration of this type at La Cocina, a commercial kitchen and business incubator in San Francisco that assists low-income and mostly immigrant women in transforming their informal entrepreneurial food endeavors into legit enterprises. Their businesses are usually based on family traditions, so working on this project felt like being invited into their home kitchens. Get this book to taste their food, learn their stories, and bask in their glow.
A few times we shared a meal at home with the entrepreneur's family. Nite Yun of Nyum Bai invited us to cook lunch with her mother, a refugee of the Cambodian genocide. Over fried fish with noodles and sweet-spicy-salty-funky-fresh-pickles, tears of pride mixed with tears of longing and pain.
Fernay McPherson of Minnie Bell's Soul Movement invited us to a family cookout in the Fillmore, once the center of San Francisco's black community. Her father Darnay barbecued and regaled us with stories from his days as a professional roller derby player in the 1970's.
Fernay's rosemary-brined fried chicken is worth a special trip
When you come to my studio, there's a good chance I'm going to feed you lunch from Isabel Caudillo's
EL BUEN COMER
EL BUEN COMER
Alicia Villanueva, from tamale lady on the street to entrepreneur with a production kitchen and a payroll
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