Karla Tatiana Vasquez in Conversation for The SalviSoul Cookbook

Karla Tatiana Vasquez, food writer, recipe developer, food stylist and founder of SalviSoul, in conversation with Salvadoran Poet Yesika Salgado for The SalviSoul Cookbook. Book signing and meet and greet to follow. Ticket price includes a pupusa from Delmy's Pupusas.

A beautifully photographed cookbook that celebrates the vibrant culture and community of El Salvador through 80 recipes and stories from twenty-five Salvadoran women.
“A heartfelt tribute to heritage, a testament to the power of storytelling, and an invitation to savor the true essence of El Salvador, one delicious recipe at a time.”—Hawa Hassan, James Beard Award–winning author of In Bibi’s Kitchen
In search of the recipes and traditions that made her feel at home, food historian and Salvadoran Karla Tatiana Vasquez took to the internet to find the dishes her mom made throughout her childhood. But when she couldn't find any, she decided to take matters into her own hands. What started as a desire to document recipes turned into sharing the joys, histories, and tribulations of the women in her life.
In this collection of eighty recipes, Karla shares her conversations with moms, aunts, grandmothers, and friends to preserve their histories so that they do not go unheard. Here are recipes for Rellenos de Papa from Patricia, who remembers the Los Angeles earthquakes of the 1980s for more reasons than just fear; Flor de Izote con Huevos Revueltos, a favorite of Karla's father; as well as variations on the beloved Salvadoran Pupusa, a thick masa tortilla stuffed with different combinations of pork, cheese, and beans. Though their stories vary, the women have a shared experience of what it was like in El Salvador before the war, and what life was like as Salvadoran women surviving in their new home in the United States.

Photo: Ren Fuller

Karla Tatiana Vasquez is a food writer, recipe developer, and food stylist based in Los Angeles. Her writing has been published by the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, Eater LA, and KCET, among others. Her recipe development work can be seen in Food & Wine, Serious Eats, BuzzFeed Tasty, and Tastemade. She is also a food justice advocate and an active member in her community to increase healthy food accessibility in low-income communities, previously working with Hunger Action Los Angeles and Los Angeles Food Policy Council. She founded SalviSoul in an effort to preserve her family’s recipes, and since then it’s expanded to focus on cultural memory and intergenerational healing for the Salvadoran diaspora.

Photo: Ruth in Truth

Yesika Salgado is a Los Angeles based Salvadoran poet who writes about her family, her culture, her city, and her fat body.

Salgado is a two time National Poetry Slam finalist and the recipient of the 2020 International Latino Book Award in Poetry.

Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, Univision, CNN, NPR, and many other platforms. She is an internationally recognized body-positive advocate, writer of the column Suelta for Remezcla and contributor to refinery29’s Latine platform Somos.

Yesika is the author of the best-sellers Corazón, Tesoro, and Hermosa, published with Not a Cult.

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