Introducing the Chingonas

Chingona:
n. a badass bitch

Mexicanos, Guatemaltecos, Salvadorenos, Puerto Riquenos, Hondurenos, Cubanos. What do we all have in common? When you walk into one of these homes, you better believe you'll be welcomed in by 15 types of home cooked meals at once served with 35 different sides, a choice of 10 drinks made fresh from fruit or spiked with booze from home country, and finished off with newly brewed cafe con leche and vibrant pan dulce. Who possess these powers to whip up a ten course meal after you drop by unannounced giving them no time to prepare? Who can possibly tell you all the chisme in town while simultaneously frying, baking, stewing, and sauteing their way to your heart? La abuela, la tia, and the most common--la mama, of course. And yes, all of them are chingonas to the bone.

I am the daughter of a badass immigrant mother from Mexico, granddaughter to a couple of powerful abuelas who take no shit, and a sister to a tough woman who was the first to try out this whole "American" thing for our sibling group. As any daughter of an immigrant family, we witness all the emotions put forth in the meals of our female family members. For better or for worse, our Latinx culture has instilled a sense of pride in women's ability to bring communities into our homes in order to break some bread and share a drink. Chingona women in Latinx culture carry with them the weight and pressure brought forth by machismo which declares that women are meant to be in the kitchen serving others. And while we can go on for days about the need to rid ourselves of this machista culture (see later blog posts for rants), the beauty that came from this unjust system is that we are magnets that hold our families together and kitchens are our platform. We dance to merengue while we stir the arroz, we organize events while we taste the mole, we kiss and hug our way through the salsas, and we delegate like nobody's business. The final result after hours of toiling over comales, ovens, and frying pans is a masterpiece of a meal imbued with the same love passed down over decades and centuries. These meals exude our care for one another.

These meals speak about our emotions in cultures where communication is usually suppressed. These meals tell more than history books about how communities lived, what resources they had, and who had power. These meals smell of joy and and taste  of adoration with notes of sadness and anger. They may have been made in times of celebration, or may have been made with tears during a painful moment of struggle. They may be made in homes of family members, on the street during festivals, or in businesses run by women (even if they don't own it, they definitely run that shit). These meals paint the world on your lips through limitations and liberation. These meals  speak of women--of strong, loving, fierce women.

This blog with delve into the dishes of one woman, one restaurant, one story, one tradition at a time. This blog is meant to showcase--not only the amazing dishes that originate from these kitchens all over the world--but also to honor the badass women who have used their strength to continue traditions manifest through food. These culinary traditions bring with them histories of celebration, betrayal, colonialism, religion, and machismo. 

You'll take these women's recipe as well as their memories of cooking and eating in their homes, pueblos, and cities. You'll learn about the ingredients and their history. You'll learn about cultural traditions that you've never heard of and maybe surprise you. You'll take away the beauty of women and our ability to hold up the world.