Food and Music Sustain Latino Heritage

Latino food businesses, musicians and places across the U.S. are actively preserving and sharing cultural heritage. In Austin, Delmy’s Pupuseria and Marimba’s Guatemalan Kitchen recreate Salvadoran and Guatemalan memory through traditional dishes and décor, while other nationwide examples include El Azteca, a family-run Mexican restaurant that moved to a busier riverside spot in Hinton, West Virginia, Salvadoran chef Karla Vasquez in Los Angeles reviving seasonal flor de izote recipes from her Salvisoul Cookbook, and Cuban musicians in New Orleans blending Havana sounds with the city’s brass-jazz tradition. Remnants of La Calera near New Braunfels preserve the physical traces and oral histories of a once-thriving Mexican American community. Together these stories show how food, music and place sustain Latino heritage amid economic, social and demographic challenges.