Coming to the US my mom was 26 with my dad and brothers. My dad was around 30 years old and my brothers were really young.  “ It was definitely scary but I came to give you and your brothers a better life,'' she had told me because of how difficult it was to be living in Jalisco Mexico at the time. When she was younger, her mom wasn't home a lot so she was left having to cook for herself and her siblings. That made her feel like she had to teach herself to cook. One of the few recipes her mom taught her was how to make tamales. “ If I had to pick my favorite recipe she taught me it would be tamales”, she explained because of how they bring the family close by making them together and remind us how important our culture is. “Since tamales are a lot of work they're usually not made very often; they are saved for special events like birthdays, holidays and celebrations”, she explained to me how they're saved for special occasions because it gives us a piece of our culture. Growing up for me, my mom started to teach me recipes and I would also have to choose tamales as my favorite obviously because of how good it tastes but about my back story. It reminds us that even though we cant be with our families in Mexico we have something that connects us even if it's simply just a recipe. I feel like its now my turn to keep that tradition going and teach it to my children so they can follow it as well.  

– jacquelinecuevas

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant