Xicana Vegan: Issue 1

An Interview with Rebel Mariposa Owner and creator of Texas’ first vegan restaurant with a full bar!

Check out La Botanica in San Antonio, TX. Tell me about yourself!

What would you like to know? I am a queer chichimeca tejana working and living mostly in San Antonio where I was born and raised.

Why did you choose to go vegan?

It was journey of many years to get to a point of being vegan and it started with wanting to be anti-violent. During my college days I was highly active and political on campus (UT-Austin) and connecting dots around violence, poverty, corporate greed and wealth and so becoming vegetarian was a way I could personally do something as a response to systemic violence.

How do Xicanisma and Veganism relate to one another for you?

For me personally i wanted to recreate my family recipes. we have a family cookbook on my dad’s side and it brings me great joy to veganize those recipes and it keeps me closer to my culture and roots. I was never motivated to cook meat but when I went vegan I began to cook all the time and I reconnected with my tias and thought a lot more about my ancestors and the role of food. It’s also linked to a desire I have to facilitate spaces and meals for tejanos so we can not just continue to be alive but so we can thrive.

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