Illyanna Maisonet's new cookbook reflects the diversity of the Puerto Rican diaspora
Illyanna Maisonet's cookbook Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook doesn't fit neatly into one, set box.
Then again, neither does actually being a Diasporican — a member of the more than 5 million-strong tribe of "Ni De Aquí, Ni De Allá," as Maisonet writes.
Her book is a memoir, cookbook and retelling of Puerto Rican history and it's a testament to her life's work of documenting and preserving food throughout the Puerto Rican diaspora.
Maisonet, a longtime food writer and the nation's first Puerto Rican food columnist, is herself Diasporican. She's the only child of her mother, Carmen (who was just 3 years old when her own parents arrived in California).
Maisonet, her mother and her grandmother (Margarita) all became cooks "out of economic necessity," the book details.
"We did not have the privilege of cooking for pleasure or joy. Our story is one of generational poverty and traumaShe grew up in Sacramento, Calif., where the area's diversity influenced Masionet's "Cali-Rican" style of cooking.
