Authentic, comforting and colorful Latin cuisine – inspired by Masterchef USA contestant Grace Ramirez’s cookbook “La Latina” – is coming to all Boston University dining halls this Friday.
“For Latino students, I hope they feel fairly represented,” Ramirez said. “I hope they’re able to drink some of those black beans and [it] it reminds them of their grandmother’s beans or their mother’s beans.”
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Ramirez said she worked with Aramark, the catering company that works with BU Dining Services, to design “La Latina Cocina.” Students can expect a variety of “station pickups” for lunch on Sept. 16, 20, 4, 12 and for dinner on Oct. 22, 28 and 6, according to campus culinary director Chef Christopher Bee.
Menu items include Mojo’s pulled pork tacos, frijoles negros, vegan chipotle tostadas and horchata, a traditional Latin drink made from soaked white rice and flavored with cinnamon, maple syrup and sugar, Bee wrote in an email.
The Bee wrote that they partnered with Ramirez specifically because she “understands that food is culture and loves to share the nourishing traditions of Latin American cuisine.”
“We look at this as an educational opportunity,” John Webster, BU dining director, said in an interview. “We want to make sure we’re teaching you about food and culture the right way.”
Ramirez said she created the concept after hearing that students wanted healthier, authentic flavors and more representation in their dining halls.
“Students were vocal about how they wanted representation and traditional flavor in the schools,” Ramirez said. “That’s the most exciting part, coming from students being vocal and someone like Aramark understanding.”
BU isn’t the only school to host Ramirez’s recipes — La Latina Cocina will open in 75 Aramark-affiliated schools across the country this fall. Ramirez said she has been working with Aramark to test and modify recipes since January.
“To be able to celebrate Latin American food and culture on this scale is very exciting,” Ramirez said. “I feel very honored and privileged to be in this position now.”
Starting her career as a production assistant for Latin American television, Ramirez said, she rose through the industry and eventually landed roles as a producer and director for the Food Network’s “Throwdown with Bobby Flay.” After a critical run on “Masterchef USA,” Ramirez switched careers and won a scholarship to the French Culinary Institute.
“I didn’t get very far on the show, but it got me to where I needed to be, which was Gordon Ramsay telling me, ‘you should do culinary school and then come back,'” Ramirez said.
Ramirez described following her dreams of working in food as a turning point. She would go up again, but this time to the kitchen stairs.
“I think the challenges are real for being a Latina woman in all these different spaces [and] being a pioneer,” Ramirez said. “When I did ‘La Latina’ there were only a few cookbooks that were about Latin food and culture in general, made by a major publication.”
Chef Melissa Tung, a BU alumna who graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 2008, said she helped Ramirez design the concept for Aramark. Since meeting at culinary school in 2010, Tung said, the pair have been great friends as well as business partners.
“Having another strong minority woman to lean on and look to for advice between the two of us has really helped us navigate where we are now, to feel a lot more confident,” Tung said.
Ramirez said growing up surrounded by “powerful Latinos” didn’t prepare her for the stereotypes she would face in the culinary industry, where none of the chefs looked like her.
“If you can’t get in the front door, you have to get in the back door or the side door or the window,” Ramirez said.
