Book Launch

Celebrating The Sisters of the Milpa: Longing for the Corn / Celebrando Las hermanas de la milpa: la añoranza del maíz by chef Natalia Mendez of La Morada Mutual Aid Kitchen

Thu, Nov 30, 2023

7:00 PM–8:30 PM

Recirculation, a project of Word Up, 876 Riverside Dr. New York, NY 10032. Please Register below.

Join as we celebrate the launching of Las hermanas de la milpa: la añoranza del maíz / The Sisters of the Milpa: Longing for the Corn, the second volume in the bilingual and indigenous (Mixteco) cookbook series by chef Natalia Méndezof La Morada Mutual Aid Kitchen. Author and chef Natalia Méndez will be joined at the book launch by collaborators of this project: Marco Saavedra (La Morada Mutual Aid Kitchen),Yajaira Saavedra(La Morada Mutual Aid Kitchen), Karina Ciprian (WordUp Bookstore), Amanda Chung(Lucky Risograph), and Ángeles Donoso Macaya (CUNY, Archives in Common). The book will be available at the event.

We will also be accompanied by friends from the Herbarium + Community Garden Initiative, coordinated by Audrey Jenkins (The New School) in collaboration with the NYBG Humanities Institute, Bronx Green-Up, and William and Lynda Steere Herbarium. Audrey, along with Matthew Pace (Assistant Curator of the Herbarium) and Kenneth Reginald Otero Walker (Project Manager in Biocultural Collections at NYBG), will be present at the book launch with specimens of corn, squash, and other preserved plants from the New York Botanical Garden’s Herbarium related to Mixteco heritage.

REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND

In this second book, Chef Natalia goes back to the root, and that root is San Miguel de Ahuehuetitlán. Here, besides delicious recipes that center the corn (including tips to make nixtamal, the base of all tortillas), chef Natalia shares memories of her childhood, growing up among the milpa crops, and of the lessons she learned from her mother, grandmothers and her aunts.

As with It Begins with the Squash, this second book is also an art project: it includes colorful illustrations by artist Marco Saavedra and photos by photographer Zahara Gómez. The second volume has again been beautifully designed by Lucky Risograph.

Specimens of corn and other preserved plants from the New York Botanical Garden’s Herbarium related to Mixteco heritage

The sisters of the milpa is a collaborative project co-sponsored by Social Practice CUNY and Archives in Common part of The Seminar on Public Engagement and Collaborative Research, an initiative of The Center for the Humanities, The CUNY Graduate Center, funded by the Mellon Foundation. This project was made possible thanks to a Humanities New York Action Grant.

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 50 max attendees. Please register here in advance.

In compliance with Word Up Community Safety guidelines, all attendees are encouraged to stay masked at all times.

Recirculation, a project of Word Up Community Bookshop, is located at 876 Riverside Drive (near 160th St.) in Washington Heights, NYC. You can take the 1 train to 157th St., A/C train to 163rd St., and the M4 and M5 to Broadway and 159/160th.

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ACCESSIBILITY: Recirculation is a wheelchair-accessible space with one ramp from the street level down to the store. Most of the shelves are on wheels and can be moved to provide additional access. The bathrooms are not yet ADA compliant and do not yet have a changing table but are gender neutral. The events are mic’d for sound and videos are captioned when possible. Free ASL interpretation is available for most programs upon request. Please email [email protected] to request interpretation as early as possible. If you have specific questions about the space or how an event can be made more accessible to you, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].