El Paso Food Voices in the Library

The El Paso Food Voices in the Library exhibit hosts a collection of cookbooks and menus from El Paso and the surrounding regions, displayed as part of the Hispanic Heritage month celebration.

[Interior of display case with cookbooks and tortilla press]

The exhibit is inpired by Dr. Meredith Abarca's project, El Paso Food Voices, and is set to spark interest in her upcoming talk El Paso's Culinary Kinship.

[Interior of display case with cookbooks, menus, and wooden spoons]

Items are on display on the 2nd floor of the UTEP Library.

[Interior of display case with cookbooks, menus, molcajete, mug, and wooden spoon]

[Interior of display case with cookbooks, menus, and bowls]

Dr. Meredith Abarca has initiated a project of oral histories and podcasts called  El Paso Food Voices. The interviews are available in the Library’s digital repository ScholarWorks on the Institute of Oral History website. The podcasts are available at https://humanitiesforall.org/blog/el-paso-food-voices or through Apple podcasts.

Dr. Abarca will give a talk related to the El Paso Food Voices project in the Blumberg Auditorium at 1:30 on October 5, 2023. The event is free and open to the public.

[Dr. Meredith Abarca]

Title: El Paso's Culinary Kinship 

This talk will present El Paso Food Voices, a digital open-source archive, that showcases a number food stories and recipes from El Paso's residents. By attentively hearing what food means to people, this presentation explores ways in which an individual's intimate connection to food invites us to build communities across differences. I suggest that a form of culinary kinship, based on the emotional, material, and symbolic meaning people give to their food practices and memories, is what bridges differences.