LAKEWOOD, Colo. — When Lila Ylarraza kneads together water, salt and harina P.A.N. – a fine corn flour – she feels connected to her family back in Venezuela. Ylarraza and her two daughters came to Denver nine months ago, after traveling the dangerous route through jungle and desert to cross the U.S. southern border.
“From the time you’re born in Venezuela, you learn how to make arepas,” she said with a laugh. She learned from her mother and taught her daughters the same techniques.
She cooks by feel. Kneading the dough until it stops sticking to her hands, browning them in a pan, baking them in the oven and patting to see when they’re ready. Finished arepas sound hollow, similar to when you pat your stomach, Ylarraza said.
“I’m going to tell you the secret,” she said, sharing the ingredients to her guasacaca sauce, which blends together cilantro, garlic and mayonnaise.
Ylarraza is one of dozens of immigrants in Colorado sharing recipes close to their hearts in the cookbook, Cocina Libre: Immigrant Resistance Recipes.
With every recipe – from countries like Peru, Ukraine, Mexico, Afghanistan, El Salvador, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Guatemala – comes a story.
“We asked people to cook something that represented them, that made them feel good,” said Julia Roncoroni, who wrote and published the cookbook alongside her partner, Delio Figueroa.
Roncoroni is a therapist. Figueroa is a music teacher. Both have worked with immigrants throughout their careers. Neither had ever written a cookbook before. But they wanted to share the stories of immigrants in a relatable way, and “everybody eats,” Roncoroni said.
The cookbook is entirely written by immigrants, including the forward by Byron Gomez, who was born in Costa Rica and is the executive chef at the Michelin-starred Denver restaurant Brutø.
“I am hoping that we can start humanizing immigrants,” said Roncoroni.
“They don't come here with nothing… they come here with a strong cultural background and strong identities,” she said. “They're not here to take anything from anybody… they're here to build a better life for themselves and for their families.”
For all of the hardships they’ve experienced, including the treacherous journey to the United States, the stories in the book highlight their resilience, Roncoroni said.
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Young cousins share their treacherous journey to Denver from Venezuela
“These are really freaking cool, awesome, powerful people who, I mean, they push through a jungle, they push through a desert. There's power to that,” she said.
The cookbook is also a celebration. “We ended up cooking and eating and learning so much about food. It was just really, really fun,” she said.
Roncoroni and her partner Figueroa are immigrants themselves – from Argentina and Puerto Rico. They didn’t want to center themselves in the cookbook. But the other immigrants they cooked with asked them to contribute a recipe of their own.
“It became a family ordeal,” she said. “My nine year old will tell you that that's her hand holding the piece [of pie]. My three-year-old will tell you that she's a cook,” Roncoroni said with a laugh.
So far, they’ve sold more than 350 copies of the cookbook. All of the profits go back into the community through the nonprofit Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.
“We want to build community. We want to build connection,” Roncoroni said.
The simplest and tastiest way to do that is through food.
And Ylarraza is proud to have her recipe for a fried plantain sandwich, filled with meat and shredded cabbage, included in the book.
“I love that people can try something different,” she said. And it helps that it’s all delicious.
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