El Paso Food Voices

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith Abarca speaks with Sandra Licon, from San Elizario, Texas Licon Dairy.  Sandra, who married into the Licon family, shares not only the journey of how Licon Dairy has become a much beloved establishments in El Paso Texas’ lower valley, but the matriarchal lineage of asadero cheese makers. The production of asadero cheese begun in California, and in the 1940s contin...

In this episode of EPFV, Eloisa Arenas talks with our guest, Rosalinda Guadalajara, a Ralámuli woman, about her Culinary Heritage and her indigenous community in Juarez, Chihuahua, on the border with El Paso, Texas. Rosalinda shares with us some ancestral recipes, like Pinole, and a couple of traditional ingredients as corn and quelites. They discuss the significance of Las Guardianas de la Cultur...

“To Eat or Not to Eat” is part of El Paso Food Voices’ special feature on “Culinary Heritage and Culinary Kinship” as it looks at the role of culinary dystopia. Culinary dystopia is the tensions that create toxic relationships between people through food, hindering the potential for kinship. We focus on culinary dystopia formed through restriction, looking at national restrictions such as the crim...

In this episode of EPFV's special feature on "Culinary Heritage and Culinary Kinship," we deal with the theme of a gustatory journey, exploring the profound impact of food on our sense of home and belonging. Sharing personal experiences of using food to reconnect with home while living away, we discuss the significance of dishes, Nepali mo:mo and eggs with chorizo in particular, in shaping identit...

In this episode, Samuel Rodriguez and Frank Nabi join Meredith Abarca to discuss the topic of food pleasure and culinary kinship. They examine the teachings of Epicurus and Mother Teresa in order to talk about the spiritual pleasure that sharing food with others can bring. Samuel and Frank both share personal stories of how sharing food with others brought them joy and helped them form a culinary...

In this episode, Ana Munoz, Jake Pineda and Renuka Khatiwada join Meredith Abarca in a conversation where they define the idea of “belongingness,” and its connection to food. From Mexico to the U.S, and Nepal, Ana, Jake, and Renuka weave personal stories on important foods in their life that represent belonging and finding a home through these foods. As author Grace Cho writes in her memoir Tastes...

This episode is part of El Paso Food Voices’ special feature on "Culinary Heritage and Culinary Kinship.” Three graduate students from the University of Texas at El Paso coming from three different geo-political locations share their culinary stories: El Paso (Stephanie), Juarez—El Paso (Victor), and Nepal (Purna). These stories speak of empathetic passion, scarcity, and a deep yearning for home....

In this episode of EPFV special feature on “Culinary Heritage and Culinary Kinship”, graduate students Marissa Bond, Fernanda Estrada and Tony Diaz discuss how the senses not only relate to the consumption of food but to the relationships, spaces and experiences that come from eating. This talk offers a window into personal stories that encompass a variety of sensorial experiences–from cooking wit...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abaca speaks with chef and restaurant owner of “El Charlatan: Taqueria y Ramen-Ya.” The restaurant is located in Socorro, Texas, about a 20 minute drive east of downtown El Paso.  Enrique shares his culinary journey that began with him cooking downtown El Paso, took him to Chicago, to eventually opening his own restaurant, El Charlatan. In Chicago, he worked fo...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abaca speaks with Valeria Alcalde who grew up in Ciudad Juárez, and after traveling the world, returned to create her own brand of sotol, an alcohol made from a native yucca plant of the Chihuahuan Desert. Valeria describes the history and process of making this spirit. We learn from Valeria’s story, not only about the artisan process of making sotol, but also...

On this episode of the EPFV Podcast, Meredith E. Abarca and Joshua Lopez discuss their role in the development of the El Paso Food Voices project, the podcast and the open-source digital archive website.  Meredith and Josh discuss the challenges and values of framing the “intimate histories” people share with one another through their food stories by using the terms culinary heritage and culinary...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abaca speaks with Josh and Margo Lepe, owners of Lucy’s Café North. Josh Lepe is the grandson of Lucy Lepe who in 1978 open Lucy’s Café in El Paso Texas. Josh shares that now it is Lucy’s sister who runs this first original Lucy’s Café establishment. In this episode, Josh shares memories of his family’s culinary signature dishes—Machaca with chile con queso and...

The host for this episode of EPFV, Margo Lepe, speaks with Sarah Zubiate, founder and CEO of Zubi’s Salsa & Organic Dips: Plant Based by Latin Taste. Sarah speaks to the health, cultural and sustainable motives that led her to transform some Mexican family recipes she grew up eating in El Paso, Texas into marketable fully plant-based products she now sells worldwide. The motivation that marks Sara...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abaca speaks with Marleen Yañez, Education Coordinator for La Semilla Food Center Organization. La Semilla, founded in 2010, is a nonprofit organization located in Anthony, New Mexico. Its mission is to create healthy, self-reliant, sustainable and fair food systems in the El Paso del Norte region. In this conversation with Marleen, we learn about her personal...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abaca speaks with Adriana and Lily Nadar, co-owners and chefs of El Layali, a Lebanese restaurant. In this conversation we learn about the migration of Lebanese into Mexico City and the northern state of Chihuahua. Adrian shares the history of her Lebanese-Mexican family and what led her aunt Adela Nadar encouraged her husband into opening the first Lebanese re...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abarca speaks with Alejandro Borunda, co-owner of Taconeta, a restaurant that specializes in tacos and other regional foods mostly from central Mexico. Alejandro shares his journey into the food industry and his vision for Taconeta’s serving style, dining area, kitchen, and of course the menu. Raised by a mother whose own passion for food led her to become a pr...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abarca speaks with Raúl Gonzalez, better known as Ruli.  He is owner and executive chef of Rulis' International Kitchen and created /host of The Chuco Cooking Show. Ruli shares the journey that took him to recognize cooking as his “zen” and his commitment to support locally grown foods. He expresses his views on the impact that mass food production has had both...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abarca speaks with Roman and Adriana Wilcox, co-owners of One Grub Community and co-founders of the non-profit Planty of the People ( www.facebook.com/PlantyForThePeople ). Their commitment to providing access to healthy, fresh quality products to El Paso’s community has been featured in El Paso Food Voices project. Adriana, in EPFV episode #4 speaks of her jou...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abarca speaks with Sabiha Khan, professor of Communications and Digital Media Production. Among prof. Khan’s academic and community engagement interest is the field of Food Studies. In this episode, she speaks a few projects that futured El Paso’s food practices, history, and culture. In her on-going documentary, Remembering How to Eat, through her collaboratio...

In this episode of EPFV, I, Meredith E. Abarca, speak with two of my former students, Consuelo Salas and Joshua I. Lopez. We discuss how and why Food Studies has become central to their postgraduate work. I first met Consuelo Salas when she took a required course to obtain a BA in American Literature, “Introduction to Literary Studies” in the Department of English at the University of Texas at El...

In this episode, Chyanne Smith talks with Juan Gonzalez, owner of La Sevillana bakery in Lower Valley El Paso, Texas, about traditional Mexican baking. They begin by delving into the history of Mr. Gonzalez’s bakery including how he got started and how his bakery is central to the neighborhood for more than just the breads he makes. In this discussion, Mr. Gonzalez also talks about the origin of t...

In this episode of EPFV, Meredith E. Abarca speaks with Adriana Wilcox, co-owner of One Grub Community, the only all plant-based restaurant in El Paso, Texas, and co-founder of “Planty for the People,” a non-profit organization. Adrian walks us through how she, and her husband chef Roman Wilcox, became do define themselves as food social entrepreneurs. What this means to her is that everyone deser...

In this podcast our guest is professor Dino Chiecchi, a life-long photographer journalist who now teaches in the Department of Communications at the University of Texas at El Paso. He speaks of the value the food has historically played in capturing peoples’ emotions in divers social, historical, cultural and economic realities. He this podcast, he talks about food in photography pertaining to foo...

On Monday October 28 2019 at 10:00 a.m., St. Petersburg Born and Internationally known artist Lyuba Titovets came in to be interviewed for the El Paso Food Voices Podcast. The interview began with an introduction of Lyuba, her profession and her background. Lyuba Titovets was born and raised in St. Petersburg Russia where she and her husband Alexander Titovets received training at the local univer...

When he isn’t caring for others as an endocrinologist, Jarek Aniszewski is an avid home-cook and host who communicates care for others through food. In this episode on commensality, the act of eating together, Jarek discusses the ins and outs of his weekly food gatherings, filling us in on the menus and guests that make up his shared table, the collaborative dynamics of his family’s kitchen, and h...