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Contributions and Challenges of the Latinx Community in Kalamazoo
from Ed. 500
Food: A Major Contributor to Latinx Cultural Influence in Kalamazoo
By Maggie Drew
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Editor's note: This story is part of the New/Nueva Opinion's series Contributions and Challenges of Latinx Community in Kalamazoo series. The Kalamazoo Community Foundation founds this series.
Kalamazoo, MI – Latin American culture - including the language, music, and food – has had a lasting impact in the United States for several years. Food is an important part of this cultural influence and has shown long-lasting change in the United States culture.
Flavors from Latin America feel like they’re stronger in Kalamazoo as the Latinx community continues to grow in the area. Organizations like Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) haven’t ignored the Latinx influence in Kalamazoo.
Kalamazoo Valley Community College hosted their annual Foodway Symposium on April 9th - celebrating all things food-related from Mexico and Central America. The event had Latinx businesses from all over the Kalamazoo community. These restaurants and stores were all started by hardworking individuals who wanted to bring something refreshing to Kalamazoo and the surrounding area.
A recent addition to downtown Kalamazoo has been the Mexican café La Familia Café. Daniel Salas, alongside his family, opened their downtown location in November. 2019. They wanted it to be a way his family could work together to bring more authentic Mexican food downtown.
“We thought downtown Kalamazoo needed a different flavor, something new,” Salas said. “Nobody was making Mexican breakfast food, and we thought it would be something different that no one else had done.”
La Familia Café serves authentic Mexican breakfast and lunch on Mondays-Fridays from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. They are located at 224 W. Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49007.
A recent addition to downtown Kalamazoo has been the Mexican café La Familia Café. In the picture is Daniel Salas
Foto: Juan Grillo - New/Nueva Opinión
“It’s important to share our culture through food,” Salas commented.
Another family-owned business seeking to bring authentic Mexican flavors to Kalamazoo is Dulceria Mi Lindo Nayarit, located off Cork Street.
“We noticed that we didn’t have any Mexican candy around Kalamazoo,” said Karla Ruiz-Velasco, daughter of the owners. “We have a large Mexican community in Kalamazoo, and we always heard of people leaving the city to get Mexican candy, so we thought, ‘why don’t we just make it available here in Kalamazoo?’. We wanted our Hispanic community to have access to that."
Ruiz-Velasco added that opening the candy store was a lifelong dream of her mother, who has sold candy since she was a kid. She said that the most challenging part of the process was finally deciding to open the store, and once they made the decision, it was smooth sailing.
Another family-owned business seeking to bring authentic Mexican flavors to Kalamazoo is Dulcería Mi Lindo Nayarit, located off Cork Street.
Foto: Juan Grillo - New/Nueva Opinión
Dulcería Mi Lindo Nayarit is open seven days a week. According to Ruiz-Velasco, the store not only makes custom piñatas, but they are happy to find any candy that a customer wants if they don’t already have it.
Mar´ía Teresa Hernández is another person in the Latinx community who had a lifelong dream come true when she opened her own business. Hernández began making tamales 14 years ago and sold them to anyone she could. After years of her regular customers asking her when she would open a restaurant, she was finally able to open her own food truck and catering business in May of 2020. Hernández said it was a challenging process for her but one that was worth it now that she had achieved her dream.
“Hispanic people don’t have many chances to open a business because no one will give us along,” she said. “Often, you can only get help from the city in English. I had to save all the money I could to open the food truck. I have always had a dream to have my own business. I just can’t believe it. We work hard, and I get tired, but when I am at the food truck, you can see the smile on my face."
María Teresa Hernández is another person in the Latinx community who had a lifelong dream come true when she opened her own business.
Foto: Juan Grillo - New/Nueva Opinión
Teresa’s Kitchen Food Truck is open Tuesday-Sunday from 11:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. and is located at 1620 Bloomfield Avenue, Kalamazoo 49001.
While Kalamazoo has several great Mexican restaurants, Noreen Garrido and her family are bringing even more different styles of Hispanic cuisine to the city after opening Kalamazoo Latino Specialties. Garrido is from Puerto Rico, and her husband is from the Dominican Republic.
Kalamazoo Latino Specialties has been selling frozen empanadas out of Can-Do kitchen since August of 2021. Can-Do kitchen is a local non-profit that provides support to local entrepreneurs. Garrido, alongside her husband and kids, is selling their empanadas to both restaurants and stores. They also sell them at community events like farmers' markets and the Food Symposium.
“It’s usually hard to find anything authentic here,” said Garrido. “There are Hispanic supermarkets, but they are often still tied to Mexican and South American food even then. So we require different food. We are trying to make a presence for people who are like us to be able to share the same foods."
Kalamazoo Latino Specialties has been selling frozen empanadas out of Can-Do kitchen since August of 2021. In the pictures is Noreen Garrido.
Foto: Juan Grillo - New/Nueva Opinión
Garrido and her family hope to expand their business by making other foods and are excited to share Caribbean food with the Kalamazoo community.
KVCC began the Food Symposium six years ago as a celebration of cuisines from different heritages, according to Rachel Bair, the Director for Sustainable Food Systems.
“We are trying to offer an opportunity for everyone in Kalamazoo to learn more and celebrate foods from all over the world,” said Bair.
“I’m Mexican, so I was just excited to come to an event that focuses on the Mexican community and to support the vendors that are here,” said Sofia Rowland, an attendee of the event. “It’s important to support the heart of our Kalamazoo community because they are wonderful people and make amazing food.”
“I heard about it from a friend, so I wanted to come to a nice event,” said Martin Morison, another attendee. “Food is such a big connector and really brings people together.”
Maggie Drew is a journalism major at WMU.
