Catalina Ramírez Martínez was delivering a catering order of tamales to Essex in August when she ran into Rep. Leonora Dodge (D-Essex). Martínez knew the fellow Latina and 25-year Vermont resident as a volunteer and supporter of those who have more recently arrived from Mexico and other parts of Latin America — so she asked for her help.
In an email translated from Spanish, Martínez — a 35-year-old native of Veracruz who now lives in Shelburne — said she came to Vermont three years ago hoping to send money back to support family in Mexico. She soon joined her sister Elizabeth as a member of the Addison County culinary collective called Viva el Sabor, which translates to "Long live flavor."
Since its 2021 founding, the nonprofit has helped more than a dozen cooks originally from Mexico and Guatemala reach new customers through business assistance, from understanding regulations to finding kitchen space and venues.
During their Essex encounter, Dodge recalled, Martínez asked if she might help Viva el Sabor participate in something like the Caribbean Carnival previously held at the Essex Experience, which celebrated Vermont's Caribbean community.
"We want to grow our collective and for more people to know our culinary flavors," Martínez said of her interest in such a project.
"People are always looking for authentic Latin cuisine in Vermont," Dodge said. "It is available," though not always easy to find if you don't know where to look, she acknowledged.
Starting on Friday, September 13, finding such cuisine will — at least temporarily — get a little easier. Viva el Sabor will launch a monthlong culinary residency in Essex, during which its members will serve food on about a dozen dates paired with performances and events at the Essex Experience.
Friday's kickoff meal will feature pork tacos and chicken tamales, gorditas and empanadas cooked by Martínez's sister Elizabeth before and during a show by the Justin Panigutti Band. For Saturday's reggae night, Magnolia González, also originally from Veracruz, will cook red and green tamales, barbacoa tacos, and chicken quesadillas. Prices start at $8.
The four-week stretch coincides with National Hispanic Heritage Month, and the Essex Experience programming team is working to add related events such as salsa dance classes, Spanish-language movies and a performance by Latin dance band Mal Maïz to its schedule.
"The perfect night would be song, dance and food," Essex Experience owner Peter Edelmann said.
The goal is that each Viva el Sabor member will drive the menu for one night, preparing food in the kitchen behind the bar in the Double E lounge. For outdoor events, food will be served outside. For shows in either the Double E 150-seat performance space or the larger 500-seat T-Rex Theater next door, chefs will serve from the lounge bar. Food will be available starting an hour before showtime through the end of each event; the pop-ups are open to the general public, not just ticket holders. Seating will be available for dining in, if desired.
Dodge was gratified to make the connection between the Essex Experience and Viva el Sabor. Over her years living in Vermont, she said she has seen the Latino community "come out from the shadows," including many "who have been here for years living in isolation on dairy farms."
Opportunities such as the residency "show our economic contributions and our cultural contributions," Dodge said. For Viva el Sabor members, she added, "It gives them an opportunity to flex their muscles, show they are professionals, cement their reputation."
Many of the collective's cooks run small catering businesses and tend to stick relatively close to home, which means Addison County for most of them.
On August 23, Alejandra Perez of Bridport-based Doña Alejandra Tacos was finishing up a feast for 65 in the cafeteria of Middlebury Union Middle School. It was the fourth year Perez cooked lunch for school staff members before the campus filled with more than 380 students.
One by one, Perez, 47, crisped up a stack of birria tacos filled with braised beef. She added them to a long table holding enchiladas verdes blanketed with a tangy tomatillo sauce, chicken-stuffed chiles rellenos, seasoned rice, black beans and mixed vegetables. Two containers of a tongue-warming red chile salsa stood by to add a little zip. Whipped cream rosettes garnished servings of tres leches cake.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Almeida Perez helped his mother and translated as needed between many warm hugs and catch-ups with his former middle school teachers.
School principal Michaela Wisell said she values the now-annual tradition of sharing a pre-academic year meal and finds it extra special that the food is cooked by Perez, whose three children are former or current students.
"It fills our souls to sit down together and also support a member of our community," Wisell said.
That the food is delicious goes without saying, Wisell said, highlighting the birria tacos and rice as her favorites. Social studies teacher Claire Groby agreed. It is an unusual treat, she said, to have such "fresh, homemade, real Mexican food."
Platters and pans were picked almost clean by the time Perez took a short break to share how she moved to North Carolina from the state of Querétaro in central Mexico about 16 years ago.
A few years later, Perez came to Vermont, where she had friends. She started milking cows, but her older children, Alex and his twin sister, were small at the time and it was too hard to juggle the job and care for them, she said. "No more cows for me," Perez added.
She began cooking for others working on area farms and also helped with grocery shopping and rides to appointments, since many lacked transportation. "I love cooking. I love helping everybody. I love my community," she said. And, she noted, "I could have my children with me."
Perez still cooks mostly for those she calls "my paisanos," but since joining the Viva el Sabor collective, she has gradually expanded to cater events at Middlebury College, other local schools and some private jobs such as weddings.
The money she earns is necessary, Perez said, but the most important reward is the appreciation of customers who gravitate to her food, whether farmers, students or fellow Latinos.
With the Essex Experience residency, Perez is looking forward to the chance to expand that circle and, she hopes, build her business despite the language barrier she still faces with some customers.
The food itself requires no translation.