Latin Hispanic Heritage Month originally began as Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a law to expand the observance to a 31-day period from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Seven Latin countries celebrate their Independence Day anniversaries during this month.
Senior Nadia Guevara is a co-president of the Latin Hispanic Student Union (LHSU). On her mother’s side, Guevara is Mexican. One of her favorite cultural foods is Fideo, a dish of vermicelli noodles cooked in a soupy broth with beans and other garnishes.
“Fideo specifically, for me it’s always made by my grandmother, and we have it at almost every holiday, and so it kind of reminds me of that closeness and unity we have,” Guevara said. “It also takes a lot of time and effort, and my grandmother puts a lot of love in it, as cheesy as that sounds, so it’s kind of a symbol of the love I have in my family as well.”
Guevara’s family has special traditions involving food as well.
“For birthdays, my grandmother will always make chicken tacos,” Guevara said. “She doesn’t make them very often, and you can only request them on your birthday, and you have to eat them at her house.”
Additionally, experimenting with flaky pastries with her sister and Puerto Rican grandmother is one of Guevara’s favorite memories.
“We make dessert empanadas whenever she comes and we’ll try putting different things inside of it, sometimes it’s chocolate, sometimes it’s jellies, and that’s a really good memory,” Guevara said.
This year, LHSU is planning their meetings and celebrations with more diverse foods from different cultures.
“For LHSU this year, we want to bring different kinds of food, not just Mexican food that has a heavy influence here in Texas,” Guevara said. “We are planning all different kinds of desserts and other options, so people should look forward to that.”
Food is part of every culture. It not only brings people together during parties and celebrations but is a large part of everyday life, whether in cooking techniques and traditional recipes or meals with family. For the Latin Hispanic community, food is a way to show love and care as well as a connection to their heritage and culture.
Sophomore Adrienne Ruiz serves as the Affinity Council representative for LHSU. Her mother was born in Mexico, and her father grew up near the US-Mexico border.
“My culture has always been a really big part of my life, ever since I was little,” Ruiz said. “It was almost ingrained in me in the sounds around me, what I ate, and our day-to-day life.”
Ruiz came to Hockaday in her freshman year, and ather old school, there was an evident lack of diversity.
“There was no clear representation of diversity, it was all the same, which I did not really care for because I wanted to show how proud I was of my culture,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz’s family eats Mexican and Latin food around three to five times per week. They make Ruiz’s personal favorite, Bacalao, every Christmas. Bacalao is made from salted bacalao fish and turned into a flavorful stew.
“We started making it [Bacalao] since my mom’s family has ties in Spain,” Ruiz said. “Her grandfather was a bullfighter there.”
In addition, for New Years’ they make buñuelos, fried dough with cinnamon with sugar sprinkled on top.
During Ruiz’s first year at Hockaday, she went to the International Festival, an annual event that celebrates the different cultures and traditions that make up the school.
“I was blown away by the International Festival,” Ruiz said “It was nothing I’ve ever seen before. I loved how we could educate everyone about the many different affinities and ethnicities that we have here at Hockaday. I felt it was a great way to show everyone that we could all be different and to embrace all corners of the world.”
Victor Torres is a member of the maintenance team and coaches multiple teams at Hockaday. His family is from Mexico.
“For me, cultural food means passion,” Torres said. “Since I was little, my grandma cooked, and my mom and my dad did. So for me, food means family.”
Torres’ favorite family foods are tacos and tamales. Every year for Christmas, his family goes to his house to prepare these foods together. He also loves to cook seafood himself.
“The cooking secret is that you have to do it with passion,” Torres said. “Because if you don’t like it, it’s not going to taste good. So, you have to like to cook. In the future someday, I would like to eat more foods from around the world.”
