Zarela Martinez: Mexican Geisha

IN CONVERSATION Mothers & Daughters

Zarela Martinez is an acclaimed restaurateur and cookbook author in New York City. Her books include Food from My Heart, The Food and Life of Oaxaca, and Zarela’s Veracruz, the companion to her PBS series "Zarela!! La Cocina Veracruzana." Her personal papers are resident in The Schlesinger Library, one of the leading centers for scholarship on the history of women in the United States. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and is in the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. She can be found at www.zarela.com and as co-host of the podcast Cooking in Mexican from A to Z on the Heritage Radio Network with her son, chef Aarón Sánchez. Her website A Taste for Life With Zarela is dedicated to her experience living with Parkinson's Disease.
"I was raised to triumph. When I was eight years old, my mother told me that she had named me Zarela because it would look good in lights, and I could achieve anything I set my mind to do. My father told me that the only sin in life was to waste one's talents and that I was blessed with many and it was my responsibility to develop them and use them wisely. I believed them both."
For more, you can read Zarela's personal story she wrote for Eat, Darling, Eat and find a recipe for Albondigas Estilo Mama (Meatballs Like Mama Makes), adapted from Food From My Heart.

https://www.eatdarlingeat.net/post/mexican-geisha