Karla Vasquez on SalviSoul & Documenting the Salvadoran Diaspora
Photo courtesy of Karla Vasquez
“Growing up I longed for El Salvador and the dinner table was the only way I was able to understand it with these stories and these dishes...when you see someone who hasn’t had to carry that burden take creative permissions that don’t belong to them and they do it to be interesting or to give their customers something that’s exciting, it doesn’t feel thoughtful.”
On the latest episode of #AHSthePod, Karla Vasquez talks about SalviSoul, her project to document Salvadoran foodways in America after the Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980’s. Karla’s project is about creating a body of recipes that center Salvadoran women in stories of resistance and brilliance, a mission that is close to her heart and has helped her see her own family differently.
“For so many of us food is the way we touch home,“ she says at one point. I think that’s so true and it makes her work of documenting Salvadoran foodways that much more important because it’s not just her, she’s providing a throughway for other Salvadoran people to connect to El Salvador.
Check out her upcoming cooking classes here, and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.