My mother didn't smile much. She worked two jobs, took care of two kids, and chain-smoked. A Colombian raised in Puerto Rico, she stuck out in suburban Houston. She wore her hair in an afro spritzed til it dripped with jerry curl. She had cinnamon-colored skin that she bathed in cocoa butter. Her thick accent forced her to add an EH to every S. Instead of "bucks," she'd say "buck-sehs."
In her younger days, my mother was a beauty pageant queen and lived in the fanciest neighborhood in San Juan with a much older man that was worth millions. But everything changed in her late 20s when she left her wealthy philandering beau and moved my twin brother and me from our island paradise to one of the poorest neighborhoods in Houston, Texas.
To make ends meet, my mother worked in data entry during the week and cleaned rich white women's houses on the weekends. In the 80s, it was perfectly ok to hiss racist slurs at brown women as they shopped at the supermarket, to grab their ass as they walked down the street, and to make fun of their accents while they tried to get their work done.
I understand why my mother didn't smile much. Why she'd glower at her coffee c
Holiday Recipe: Traditional Puerto Rican “Sopón”
One of my favorite holiday traditions is the classic sopón that we serve at the end of parties. First, because it’s a delicious way to use leftover ingredients. Dough from traditional pasteles (or leftover pasteles), root vegetables, ground casabe (our indigenous cassava flatbread) all could add depth and flavor to a traditional sopón. We used to keep the door of our house open for holiday parties, and people would come and go throughout the afternoon. So my Mom would prepare lots of snacks and, as nighttime approached, she would start to make the great sopón that everyone had anxiously waited for!
The great thing about sopón is that, as it is being made, everyone puts a spoon in to try it and suggest ingredients. Our house used to be filled with some of the greatest smells I’ve ever enjoyed! When it was time to grate bananas or plantains to make the bollitas de plátano (boiled rolled plantain), which would inevitably go in the sopón, we all knew that it would be ready soon. Puerto Rican holidays are full of traditional smells and flavors, and each family shares them in a unique way. I have tried th
The Julia Child of Puerto Rican Cuisine Deserves More Recognition
After the landfall of Hurricane Fiona, Puerto Rico is experiencing a natural disaster and infrastructure crisis. More than a million people are currently without water and power. The immediate needs right now are water and humanitarian relief—here’s how you can help.
No one would guess from looking at Giovanna Huyke that she's one of the most important figures in Puerto Rican cuisine. She's barely over five feet tall, 62 years old, and completely unassuming. When I ask her what it was like to be the first woman to work the line in a Puerto Rican restaurant kitchen, she runs her hand through her short red hair and leaves it going every which way. I can tell she's trying not to cry. She takes off her glasses and wipes them down. "They didn't think I was going to make it," she laughs, "but I made it."
Huyke did indeed make it. Often considered the Julia Child of Puerto Rican cuisine, with celebrated restaurants, TV shows that spanned over two decades, and handfuls of accolades, Huyke has achieved more than most chefs on the island. In fact, The New York's Daily News credi
Giovanna
Chef Giovanna Huyke, is an international culinary leader, she is also called the “Julia Child of Puerto Rico”. She is widely credited with leading the transformation of Puerto Rican cuisine, blending the use of local ingredients with traditional cooking methods, and revolutionizing the trend toward lighter and healthier cooking, without sacrificing flavor. Chef Huyke has published six cookbooks and 20 recipe booklets showcasing her culinary creations.
Some of her many recent accomplishments include:
• Host of a daily cooking show called Giovanna’s Kitchen (“La Cocina de Giovanna”) which was broadcast uninterrupted for over 23 years in Puerto Rico
• Host of a weekly cooking show called En Casa con Giovanna
• Host of a dinner party cooking show called Giovanna Primetime
• Walmart/Amigo spokesperson, writing recipes and cooking techniques and tips for the in-store cooking magazine
• Proctor and Gamble spokesperson in Puerto Rico for “Brand Saver” coupon, cooking and healthy living magazine
• Featured on: Burt Wolf’s Travel and Traditions, Willard Scott’s segment on The Today Show, Martha Stewart, Good M
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