Tamales with Los Cilantros Chef Dilsa, Dec 14 at Library in Berkeley

 

Tamales are one of the oldest foods in the Americas, dating back to 7,000 BCE. The steamed corn husks wrapped around different deliciously seasoned fillings—from meat, fish, and beans to insects—were an easy-to-carry meal for warriors, hunters, and travelers in ancient civilizations like the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. They’ve continued to be a popular holiday meal, often prepared and assembled in community.

Interested in learning about making tamales? Join the Claremont Branch Library for a special tamale-making demonstration on December 14, 2–3pm by Chef Dilsa Lugo, owner of Los Cilantros restaurant at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley. Chef Dilsa is known for her home-style Mexican dishes made with local, responsibly sourced ingredients. The library event, held in partnership with La Cocina—a nonprofit supporting inclusivity in the food industry—offers limited space, so reserve your spot by calling 510-981-6280.

This event is offered in partnership with La Cocina of San Francisco. Since 2005, La Cocina has focused exclusively on small business incubation, with a vision to increase inclusivity in the food industry and offer equitable opportunity for living-wage work and asset generation.

Working-class women of color and immigrant women, many of whom are skilled cooks, have traditionally experienced a comparative lack of opportunities in the formal job market, including in the formal food service industry. Being excluded from the mainstream job market and the formal food industry has prompted many low-income women to start their own informal food enterprises.

These women, who sell homemade food on the streets or out of their homes, have learned to make their businesses profitable and sustainable on a very small scale. However, as low-income entrepreneurs, they face large risks and significant barriers to entry into the formal food industry due to insufficient financial and social capital.

These and other barriers deprive working class food entrepreneurs from the opportunity to build assets through formalizing their businesses. This underscores the need for an environment, such as La Cocina, where working class food entrepreneurs can access the resources they need in order to survive the crucial start-up phase and become functioning parts of the local economy. Read more about the work of La Cocina at lacocinasf.org/mission

Read more about Chef Dilsa and her work at Los Cilantros, our profile of Chef Dilsa, or our review of the La Cocina cookbook!