For many cooks and writers with immigrant backgrounds, documenting and sharing their native food culture can feel like an important responsibility. But when documenting the foodways of places such as Puerto Rico—whose cuisine reflects hybridity and colonization, with a diaspora that outnumbers those on the island—efforts to distill and explain the cuisine can be challenging.
Join writer and food studies professor Von Diaz, author of the cookbook and memoir “Coconuts and Collards: Recipes and Stories from Puerto Rico to the Deep South,” and Daniela Galarza, a staff writer at The Washington Post and author of the newsletter “Eat Voraciously,” for a conversation moderated by television host, chef, writer and TODAY show contributor Alejandra Ramos, about the complexities of documenting and developing recipes from Puerto Rico.
Hosted by MOFAD and Kitchen Arts & Letters, this open dialogue, which encourages audience questions and participation, will explore the specificity of sharing the history and context of Puerto Rican cuisine, and how its colonial context distinguishes it from other food cultures. This conversation aims to open a discourse about the ways in which white supremacist culture shows up in how recipes are written and shared, and how writers from immigrant backgrounds are often asked to make their recipes quicker, use easier to find ingredients, and sometimes change the dishes name to something more palatable.
Tickets are free (registration required) but include the option to *purchase a signed first edition copy of Von Diaz’s Coconuts & Collards, Recipes and Stories from Puerto Rico to the Deep South. A percentage of the proceeds from books sold will go to support El Departamento de la Comida, a nonprofit collective and food sovereignty organization based in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
*Books will be shipped to your door by Kitchen Arts & Letters. Supplies are limited. US only.
Photo by Cybelle Codish
VON DIAZ
Von Diaz is a writer, documentary producer, and author of Coconuts & Collards: Recipes and Stories from Puerto Rico to the Deep South.
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Atlanta, GA, she explores food, culture, and identity. In addition to her debut culinary memoir, she has contributed recipes and essays to a number of cookbooks and anthologies. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Bon Appétit, NPR, Food & Wine Magazine, Eater, and Epicurious. She has also been a reporter for NPR, StoryCorps, The Splendid Table, WNYC, PRI’s The World, The Southern Foodways Alliance, Colorlines, and Feet in 2 Worlds.
She is a frequent public speaker, and in 2015 she gave the TEDx talk, “Every Dish Has a Story: Mapping My Food History,” exploring how cooking and eating reflect our deepest cultural roots. In addition, she’s taught food writing and audio production workshops at New York University and The New School, among others.
Von received a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Agnes Scott College. She went on to receive a dual M.A. in Journalism and Latin American and Caribbean Studies from New York University, where she completed a Tinker Field Research Fellowship to record oral histories of elder LGBTQ communities in Havana, Cuba.
DANIELA GALARZA
G. Daniela Galarza is a staff writer for the Food section at The Washington Post who also writes "Eat Voraciously," a newsletter offering easy dinner recipes, cooking tips and inspiration.
A former restaurant pastry chef, Galarza has been writing about food and cooking for more than 10 years. Before joining The Post, she was a features editor at Serious Eats, senior editor at Eater.com and deputy food editor at Los Angeles magazine.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a certificate in pastry arts from the International Culinary Center in New York. After studying pastry and bread making in Paris and central France, she worked as a pastry chef, private chef and in product development in New York and Los Angeles before entering journalism.
Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New York magazine, Wall Street Journal, Taste Cooking and other publications.
ALEJANDRA RAMOS
Alejandra Ramos is a television host, TODAY Show contributor, chef, and food writer known for creative recipes and entertaining ideas that are playful, improvisational, and always just a little bit extra.
In addition to her regular appearances on TODAY Show, Alejandra is the creator of the blog AlwaysOrderDessert.com, is a host on Food Network Kitchen, a chef personality on the Cooking Channel show “Food: Fact or Fiction?” and a co-host of “Today’s Deals Live” and “At Home Cooking” on Amazon Live.
Alejandra’s writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Real Simple, Cosmopolitan, NBCNews.com, Saveur, and O the Oprah Magazine.
Alejandra was born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents. She studied at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and Apicius International School of Hospitality in Florence, Italy. She lives in Harlem with her husband, their dog, and many many tropical plants. Follow Alejandra on Instagram and Twitter @alwaysalejandra.
KITCHEN ARTS & LETTERS
Kitchen Arts & Letters is a bookstore devoted to food and drink, with titles imported from around the world. They emphasize works on food culture and innovation.