Saturday, March 16, 2024, 10 – 11:30am PDT
Josefina Velázquez de León (1899-1968) was a Mexican entrepreneurial author, teacher, and cook who raised funds for social causes and empowered women within the domestic sphere of the kitchen. She created an empire unheard of in mid-20th century Mexico.
Largely forgotten after her death, she gave a national face to regional Mexican cuisine and symbolizes female empowerment and cultural enrichment.
Maite Gomez-Rejon will talk about the powerhouse that Josefina was in an informal discussion. A tasting will be enjoyed after the program.
About the presenterMaite Gomez-Rejón, founder of ArtBites, explores the nexus of art and culinary history through lectures and cooking classes in museums across the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
She has been a guest on the Today Show, featured in Food & Wine and Hyperallergic and interviewed on KCRW’s Good Food and the BBC’s The Food Programme. Her writings have appeared in Life & Thyme, Eaten Magazine, Gastro Obscura, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History among other publications.
She co-curated exhibits on the history of maize and cacao at LA Plaza Cocina de Gloria Molina in Los Angeles and is co-host of the Hungry for History podcast with Eva Longoria on iHeart Radio.