TEXAS MEXICAN PLANT-BASED COOKING

10:00 am - 10:45 am
| Location of Session: Salazar Gallery
Adult Sessions

Start of Signing: 11:00 AM
| Signing Location: Adult Signing Tent

My Schedule

About the Event

In archaeological sites throughout Texas and Northeastern Mexico, records left by Indigenous communities tell stories about their food practices, the roots of Texas Mexican cuisine. Author and chef Adán Medrano, a Coahuiltecan descendant, has made it his life’s work to document these food practices and the stories they narrate. In The Texas Mexican Plant-Based Cookbook, he honors the plant-based cooking history, traditions, and knowledge that make up the comida casera (home cooking) of today’s Texas Mexican community. Home cooks of all levels will discover ingredients and simple techniques at this session!

About the Author

Photo Credit: Marie D. De Jesús

Adán Medrano

Adán Medrano is a food writer, chef, and filmmaker specializing in the indigenous foods of Texas and the Americas. His book Truly Texas Mexican: A Native Culinary Heritage in Recipes was a Foreword INDIES Finalist. His subsequent book was Don’t Count the Tortillas: The Art of Texas Mexican Cooking.

Medrano is the Executive Producer/Writer of the food documentary Truly Texas Mexican, which won Best Documentary at the New York Independent Cinema Awards, the Audience Choice Award at the Hill Country Film Festival, and was named an Official Selection at the Sonoma International Film Festival.

An advocate for the arts, he was appointed by the governor of Texas and served six years as a commissioner on the Texas Commission on the Arts. In his career as a foundation grant-maker, he spent 23 years working throughout Latin America, Europe, and Asia, and during his travels he came to recognize the universal power of food. Medrano has lectured about food and culture and showcased his recipes at many universities and institutions, including the Culinary Institute of America. He is the editor of the Texas Tech University Press book series Indigenous Foodways of Texas and Northern Mexico. His new book is The Texas Mexican Plant-Based Cookbook.

Moderator

Haley K. Holmes

Haley K. Holmes, PhD, is the Public Services Administrator for the San Antonio Central Library. Dr. Holmes has worked for the Public Library for more than 20 years. In 2020, she was recognized as a Library Journal Mover & Shaker, and she is the coauthor of Library Programming Made Easy, published by Rowman & Littlefield. Fun fact: Haley starred in an episode of Faking It on TLC titled “Super Shy to Super Fly,” where she learned to be a Coyote Ugly bartender, which became the topic of her dissertation.