A Meal To Remember
Maiden Home: Tell us the story of Masa Memory and how it came to be?
There is a part of Masa Memory that has been living inside of me my entire life. I’ve had a deep admiration and love for masa and tortillas from an early age. I grew up in a family of cooks and restaurant owners. Maybe out of necessity or maybe out of love, everyone cooked! Masa Memory is deeply rooted in my connection to
the memories of my whole family cooking and eating together at a big table. I feel that my brother, my nana, and other loved ones who are no longer here with me physically, are so present with me in spirit, when I cook. Then there is this part of Masa Memory that found me later in life, between the ages of 27 to 32, when I spent the majority of those years traveling around the world — experiencing so many different expressions of cooking, family traditions, practices around growing food and taking part in the ways others gathered with the ones they loved.
The dream of Masa Memory lived inside of me, but I thought in order for it to live outside of me, I would have to open a restaurant and I knew I didn’t want to do that again. After I had to stop cooking for clients at their homes and with the world feeling so uncertain, I needed something... so I cooked just to cook. I had always made tortillas for clients at their homes and often pressed herbs and flowers into them, but something about making the Pink Flower Moon Tortillas at home felt different. My kitchen became an art studio and looking back, even with all of the unease of that time, I loved my freedom to cook at home. At first, I gave the pink tortillas to my clients as gifts and I saw how much the tortillas, as they did with me, cheered them up. Their expressions and reactions to the tortillas inspired me to make more. It was a special feeling to see what occurred for me while I made the tortillas, was happening to others when they cooked and ate theirs. After those first weeks, Masa Memory quickly began to live outside of me and for that sweet moment in time, I had a small Tortillería.
I do not know if Masa Memory could exist without all of the strong and brave women, who were around me, while I was growing up. Cooking for a family is a lot of work and food done in a way that feels effortless or simple, woah... it is anything but. My mom’s “simple” bowl of beans with the perfect flavored broth (Frijoles de Olla) has a new meaning to me. Observing that kind of commitment to family, through the lens of food, this lives inside of me like a guiding light. So much of Masa Memory is rooted in my gratitude for these kinds of memories.
MH: Everything you create is rooted in nostalgia, storytelling, and advocacy. How can food and entertaining connect us with our history and humanity?
I am a very nostalgic person. The past continues to teach me about myself—it is a constant unfolding, a teacher who I am thankful for. Food has memory, a history and an origin story. For me and for Masa Memory, sharing these stories invites curiosity and a deeper connection to our food and to others. I believe food energetically connects us. Food memory is an intimate bond we share with our past and this relationship can teach us so much about ourselves and others. This bond can connect us to people we might not cross paths with otherwise. Gathering around a table of home-cooked food can soften hearts and open ears, creating a compassionate environment where conversations can take place. This is the beautiful, powerful and healing work of food and cooking.
MH: How would you describe your general approach to entertaining?
My approach with entertaining is to have fun with it.I like to set an intention for the night and the meal, before I begin. I love to feed people, to talk about food, to think about food and to grow food. I also really enjoy setting a table and the feeling that comes once everything is ready. One of the most important parts of entertaining and cooking for me is honoring family food traditions and the origin stories of food.I know it is my responsibility as a cook, as someone who feeds a lot of people, to share these stories and to source ingredients that support the health of the soil and farmers. What and how we eat, impacts ourselves, others and our earth. I do not remember the exact moment I had that realization, but everything changed for me once I did.
MH: What are the key elements to a dinner party to not only make it look beautiful, but to also make it feel warm and inviting to your guests?
I like to cook food that all of my friends and family can enjoy. When I entertain and cook for guests, I want them to know there will always be something available for them to eat, regardless of what their food restrictions or preferences may be. A long table filled with people you care about and love. A must for me is music, a good playlist. Vases full of beautiful flowers or simple foliage. Candles, soft lighting. Somewhere cozy to sit. A lived-in environment, setting and table. For me, I do not want anything to feel overly precious—if something spills on a tablecloth, that is okay. I want my guests to feel like they are at home when they eat with me.
My nana once told me that a house is warm and welcoming if there is a table with a bowl of fruit, so I always have a bowl of fruit on mine, especially when entertaining.
MH: What are your tabletop essentials?
- Ceramics—friends joke that I live in a ceramic museum. I love my ceramics, each one with a story. I’ve bought many of them while traveling and others have
been gifts. I do not own a complete set of one type. Somehow everything just naturally belongs together.
-I love a neutral-colored linen tablecloth! I have a collection of tablecloths—some of them I made, some are vintage homespun, mixed in with tablecloths that belonged to mom and nana.
-Flowers, always. Candles. A large salad bowl and a bowl of fruit.
MH: When creating a recipe, where do you first draw inspiration?
My inspirations for cooking are the sunshine that fills my tiny cabin kitchen and farmers’ markets. California has some of the best farmers’ markets around. I love when my friends who are growing food text me to tell me they have something special that week that I must try. I also pull a lot of inspiration from my art books, the ocean and all kinds of sound. Color and music inform so much of my art, and time spent in the kitchen.
MH: How can we deepen our relationship to entertaining and food in a more meaningful way?
I think it is extremely important to understand the history of our food and to celebrate the revolutionaries who have been and still are guardians of the seeds. Masa Memory celebrates that the food we eat is sacred. We want to support the aliveness of food that is grown in alignment with the natural world and celebrate the people who are facilitating this process. Food grown in healthy soil with clean water should not be a privilege, this is our inherent right as human beings. All bodies crave and need these nutrients.
We are all participants in this conversation, whether we know it or not. There are many ways to get involved in our communities to positively impact food systems. Join or support a community garden, share
a book you read about regenerative farming with a friend, donate to groups who are protecting our soil,
land, clean water and our rights to grow and eat non- GMO food. Masa Memory provides a few resources on our website and we will continue to share the wishes and words of Indigenous food activists, who are deeply connected to the history and origin story of the food we eat every day.
MH: What does story mean to you in your art?
Story is our essence. What sets us apart but also pulls us all together. My story is deeply rooted in memories: with my family, the smell of the monsoon rains in August, and early winter sunsets in Arizona where I grew up. Whether it is my photography, cooking, or making quilts with my textiles, nostalgia has a strong presence in my art. Nostalgia represents the memory of a freeze frame moment that can not be recreated— which reminds me to hold onto the special moments I have now.
Story to me is my connection; to others, a place, an object or to my favorite food. These memories built up inside of me over all of the years have guided some big decisions and movements in my life.
