The Cultural Awareness Center held a book reading and signing April 26 for Dr. Luz Calvo, co-author of a book about natural and healthy Mexican cooking.

Calvo read from her book, Decolonize Your Diet: Mexican-American Plant-Based Recipes for Health and Healing, about redefining traditional Mexican food by promoting a diet that is wealthy in plants and domestic to the Americas, such as corn, beans, greens, herbs and seeds. She talked about going back in history by cooking with traditional methods and eating food the way ancestors used when there was no such thing as fast food, but instead whole organic foods.

The “decolonization” of the title refers to maintaining indigenous Mexican cooking customs from before the country was colonized, according to the “Decolonize Your Diet” website.

“Every recipe in my book helps my body fight cancer, including the desserts,” said Calvo,

Each recipe has ingredients that not only help the body fight cancer, but diabetes and other diseases, according to Calvo. She talked about different fruits and vegetables, as well as herbs and spices, and how they can be used to create delicious, healthy meals. Many herbs also have medicinal use.

When creating the cookbook they did research in old cookbooks and some newer ones, but others are more personal recipes.

“Some are family recipes that were made so that they would be healthier or more original to how we would imagine they would be before the addition of meat and cheese and others are from students and their families,” said Calvo.

Calvo first became concerned with the health issues in Latin communities when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. She began to worry about what she should be eating and ask herself what is it that she could do to help regain her strength. This led her to study more about health and talk with her students at California State University, East Bay, where she learned more about health risks in American diets.
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After the reading, a cooking demonstration and tasting was also held from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in a separate location at City College.

Calvo currently teaches ethnic studies in CSU East Bay. She lives in Oakland with her partner and co-author Catriona Rueda Esquibel, where they raise chickens and grow food in their backyard. She also teaches a class called Decolonize Your Diet.

For more information about the authors or their cookbook, check out their website or their social media pages:

http://decolonizeyourdiet.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DecolonizeYourDiet/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/luzcalvo