A Portland chef on her Mexican roots and transitioning
Plus Ghanaian beef kebabs and a chocolaty cookbook of the month
Grandmas, tlayudas, and hormone therapy
Luna Contreras is a chef and half the duo of acclaimed popup restaurant Chelo here in Portland. Growing up in Guadalajara, her Mexican roots and childhood heavily inspire the dishes she creates during each event. From Mexico to picking up awards for her restaurants in the Bay Area, Luna moved to Portland in 2015 for a fresh start and to work through her struggles with gender dysphoria. She decided to officially transition and start hormone therapy in 2020, and she candidly shared her story with me during a session in her kitchen. We talked about her grandma and how Chelo is named and based off her restaurant, how moving to Portland has given her a new community, and how transitioning has affected her creativity and recipe process.
Check out the interview and session via the button below, and be sure to follow Chelo for updates on popups and events.
New York & Tri-State bookings are open!
I’ve still got a few slots open while I’m on the east coast at the end of the month! April 26-May 3, I’m booking Family Cookbook experiences or 1-hour family sessions. Want to collaborate on something else? Get in touch (just reply to this email).
Successful in all food-getting enterprises
If you are allergic to peanuts, you might want to skip over this (and I’m sorry). If you aren’t familiar with the West African spice blend suya, now is the time to add it to your pantry. It’s a blend of peanut powder, hot pepper, and aromatics that’s usually used for kebabs (but I’ve used it in stews and other dishes as well). I’ve bought it before but this is the first time I made it from scratch, using a recipe from Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen cookbook. I made the suya beef kebabs from the same cookbook to explore Ghana’s Gologo festival, which is a pre-harvest festival to ensure successful food-getting endeavors, and protect against misfortune. The prep for the festival involves removing all clothing from the upper body for three weeks, and during this period no noise can be made in the villages that observe this routine. No loud music, no construction, no mourning. Once that period has passed, the celebrations can begin where participants wear a very specific costumes comprised of a towel, a triangle-shaped apron, and knives. Women also cover their heads. The celebration continues for another few days before the millet sewing can commence.
The video featuring these kebabs will go up on Instagram this weekend, but to make it yourself, click the link above to snag the cookbook.
Cookbook of the Month
Cocoa: An Exploration of Chocolate, with Recipes
I have a penchant for cookbooks that focus on one ingredient. They tend to be an interesting deep dive while incorporating that ingredient in fresh and creative recipes. In another round of perusing the sale section at Powell’s, I came across Cocoa, Sue Quinn’s dissertation-esque book on all things chocolate. It’s crammed with facts and history about cocoa and cultural perspectives from around the world. The design is minimalistic and poppy, though I have to say I’m a wee bit disappointed with the photography (it’s a little sparse). However, with wildly fun recipes like jasmine-infused Medici hot chocolate and slow-roasted beef short ribs with cocoa and maple, I’m very happy to add this find to my collection.