A downtown Los Angeles exhibit highlighting the food of Native Mexican, Mexican American and indigenous grandmothers has been awarded a grant to expand its reach.
“Abuelita’s Kitchen: Mexican Food Stories” opened in Kitchen Squarenewest addition to Culture and Arts Square, in May of this year. Soon, thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, his co-creators will begin filming grandmothers’ stories in El Paso, Tucson, San Antonio and other cities.
“We are thrilled to be able to represent so many different cultures in different settings,” said Sarah Portnoy, a professor of Latin American and Iberian cultures at USC Dornsife, who co-created the exhibit. “It will be interesting to see what these Mexican and Mexican American food cultures are like.”
The original exhibit at LA Plaza Cocina features ten LA-based Mexican and Mexican American grandmothers whose stories and wisdom are shared through photographs, a documentary, audio narrations, culinary artifacts and more.
Showing how women have passed down traditions, recipes and stories from generation to generation through their domestic work, the work also shows the critical role of food in defining a culture and a place.
“These women’s food stories are about so much more than just the dish they prepared for us that day,” Portnoy said. “We end up talking about migration, being undocumented, being separated from family, domestic abuse comes into play — many other topics.”
“Abuelita’s Kitchen: Mexican Food Stories” will remain on display at LA Plaza Cocina until September 4th.
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