by Linda Castillo
Diana Silva is calling everyone to preserve their living and passed ancestor’s favorite recipes and stories for future generations. “We need to try to preserve our cultures and not just let those favorite recipes disappear forever. The common thread of every cherished family recipe is that they were homemade with love, and that’s the real secret ingredient,” says Diana.
Modern Latina had a chance to ask San Francisco-based home chef, author, video blogger and radio host Diana a few questions about this special book, the importance of preserving our family’s precious recipes and the stories that make them special.
I love your quote “food is love and love is food”. How did your mother Rose open your eyes to cooking? Tell me about how that was bonding experience with her?
The kitchen was where my mom and I celebrated our love of food, family and each other. I remember the exact moment that I embarked on this journey with my sweet Mama Rose. I was just nine years old when my culinary training began. My mama was making her legendary flour tortillas, and my big job was to mix the masa. Mom expertly poured water, flour, salt and a little baking powder in the bowl and I eagerly put my small hands in the bowl and tried to follow my mother’s patient instructions on how to mix it. I loved the way the sticky dough felt in my little fingers. I was so very proud and excited to help my mama.
I didn’t understand the road I’d embarked on that afternoon and the joy I’d experience cooking my mother for more than 20 years. I’m grateful for these treasured memories now that my mama is in heaven.
Why was it important for you to capture your mother’s recipes?
She was a patient loving teacher and her food was magical! She never measured anything and none of her recipes were written down. My grandmother Magdalena had taught her to cook and so if I didn’t manage to perfect and document them they would be lost forever. I knew how to make several of her dishes before she became terminally ill, but whenever we cooked together she went behind me and added more spices, etc. so I didn’t know every secret until the end.
I wanted her recipes to share with future generations and I knew that I’d feel connected to her long after she was gone through her food. It was her legacy!
She also had a way of making everyone feel at home around her, loved, listened too like they were important and cared for and always with a full tummy of some memorable meal my mama had shared with them.
What is your favorite recipe by your mom?
This is such a hard question. Her flour tortillas were the best ever, light and fluffy with a flavor that transformed any ingredient that you ate with them into the best thing you’d ever tasted. And her mole rojo, pozole, tamales, Spanish rice, crunchy tacos, guacamole all legendary. But if I can only list one, it would be her crunchy pork mole! I made it for a Virgin Sports Executive event a few years ago and I had attendees coming into the kitchen for seconds and thirds.
Many of the recipes in this book are on Diana’s YouTube channel. Would you like to share a few recipe with our readers?
Homemade Mexican Spanish Rice Recipe | Molé Mama
Traditional Chicken Mole Rojo Recipe | Molé Mama
How did capturing your mother’s recipes help your mom and you during the last moments together?
My mother was in a hospital bed and unable to walk for the last 13 months of her life. I still needed her to help me perfect her recipes by taste testing them and guiding me; so cooking managed to continue to bond us tightly and help us both feel useful. Keeping her from losing weight was a challenge and my cooking helped elongate this process because she’d actually eat the food I cooked for her, albeit smaller and smaller portions as time went by, but she continued to eat. She had COPD and weight loss is a big issue for patients with this illness during the end stages. I’d make her all the food she’d need during my weekend visits. It was our final chapter of love through the dishes that had always been a part of our everyday lives.
What do you hope that the readers will takeaway from you sharing this intimate story in Molé Mama; A Memoir of Love, Cooking and Loss?
I’m hoping that they will be encouraged to stay present and connect with their loved ones during their own farewell journeys and to know that they aren’t alone.♦
Stay connected with Diana:
- Facebook: www.fb.com/molemama
- Instagram @mole_mama
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC84wlsY9xuVhRd_CkNdVdqg
- Upcoming events: Mother’s Day Coping With Grief And Loss Event, Facebook Live Event, May 12 and May 13, 2018
Linda Castillo is the Founder and Executive Editor of www.ModernLatina.com. She writes on topics that empower and inspire Latinas including art, motherhood, green living, culture, travel, and issues transforming the Latino community. Linda has earned a B.S. in Business and a M.S. in Mass Communications from San Jose State University.