A Salvadoran cookbook from a major publisher is finally here. Why did it take so long?
LOS ANGELES -- Food never happened in a vacuum for Karla Tatiana Vasquez. Stories always followed.
Whenever her grandmother or mother cooked, Vasquez knew something special was coming. Their food unlocked memories, especially about El Salvador — the homeland they'd fled in the late 1980s during the country's civil war.
Vasquez was born in the Central American nation but had no memory of it. She was an infant when her family spirited her away to Los Angeles, where many family members ended up settling. As a child, Vasquez had a difficult time saying "Salvadoreño" without tripping up on the roller coaster of a word.
At school, she struggled with anxiety and a sense of belonging. She felt
