The SalviSoul CookbookSALVADORAN RECIPES AND THE WOMEN WHO PRESERVE THEM
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.
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.
“[A] heartfelt tribute to the over 2 million Salvadorans living here, offering them a welcomed reminder and taste of home.”—Food Network
“[A] fantastic read for anyone who has ever felt a wave of homesickness and yearns for the comfort food and family bring.”—Food & Wine
“The SalviSoul Cookbook is much more than a collection of recipes. It is an answer to the question of an entire diaspora. It is an anthem and an archive that reaches across generations and distances. Anyone aching to answer the question of belonging will surely devour this tremendous gift.”—Yesika Salgado, author of Corazón
“The SalviSoul Cookbook is a vibrant opus that highlights the strength, resiliency, and soul of Salvadoreño food and the women who nourish a society throughout the generations. These recipes are the perfect example of when food isn’t always just food.”—Illyanna Maisonet, James Beard Award–winning author of Diasporican
“Beautifully shot and gorgeously written, this is a testament to the power of a people’s food to provide not just sustenance and survival despite upheaval and political strife, but also love, joy, and connection.”—Alicia Kennedy, author of No Meat Required
“Opening the pages of The SalviSoul Cookbook, you travel back to your own abuela’s, mom’s, tia’s kitchen. In these pages, Karla Tatiana Vasquez has recreated a homeland, each photograph, each recipe, becomes a window into the reason why a book like SalviSoul is so important to world cuisine. Our community has been waiting for this book our whole lives.”—Javier Zamora, author of Solito
“SalviSoul is a deliciously overdue, spoken-word account of one of Latin America’s most beautiful cuisines and a homecoming for all of us hoping to better understand our roots through food.”—Jorge Gaviria, James Beard Award-winning author of Masa
“Vibrant with color, warm with a sense of home, and mouthwatering with flavors that compel one to get into the kitchen immediately, The SalviSoul Cookbooknourishes all the senses. . . . this book is sure to be a generational cornerstone in the space of Central American cuisine and literature.”—Lauren Ko, bestselling author of Pieometry and founder of atlokokitchen
“Karla takes us on a rich, emotional, and deeply moving journey as she connects the dots of Salvadoran cuisine, which has been shockingly underrepresented in the United States and around the world. Every page and passage is proof positive that this is a culinary culture worth documenting, exploring, and—most importantly—enjoying.”—Adeena Sussman, author of Sababa and Shabbat
“SalviSoul is not just a cookbook; it’s 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
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