Flavors of Heritage: A Tour of Latino Gastronomic Festivals

The atmosphere of a Latin American gastronomic festival and photographs of typical dishes from the region

Ever wanted to taste all those delicious dishes you see on your IG feed? Well, if you're in search of Latin American flavor along with some international travel, hit up their food festivals. Think bold and spicy Mexican flavors and tasty Caribbean creations. It's not just about the food; it's a whole vibe, mixing flavors with a hefty dose of cultura.


These gatherings bring together local culinary maestros, timeless family recipes, native and homegrown ingredients, food lovers, curious tourists, and, most importantly, a mix of people celebrating Latin American roots through the art of cooking.

The National Mole Fair - Mexico

Woman making tortillas at one of the mole food stands at the Feria de Mole in San Pedro Atocpan

Photo by Alejandro Linares García

For over 45 years, the National Mole Fair in San Pedro Atocpan, situated south of Mexico City, has stood as the epicenter of the celebration of traditional Mexican mole. Every October, the month-long fair offers a unique stage for skilled local chefs. It's not just about presenting classic mole recipes; it's also a canvas for showcasing inventive culinary creations.

At the Fair you can taste everything from the classic red mole with chicken and almond mole with turkey to more innovative creations such as pine nut, cranberry, mango, and apple mole.

The dynamic involvement of mole producers and artisans from states like Morelos, Tlaxcala, State of Mexico, and Hidalgo enriches the Fair, creating a feastrich in flavors that goes beyond the borders of San Pedro Atocpan.

When you visit, make sure to swing by La Parroquia y el Ex Convento de San Pedro. This stunning chapel has been standing since 1680, and the outside is all fancied up with Renaissance and Baroque vibes. Plus, it's been a Historical Monument since 1933.

Gastronomic Congress of Popayán - Colombia

The atmosphere at sunset at the Popayan gastronomic festival

Photo by Popayán Gastronomic Corporation

Since 2003, the Popayán Gastronomic Congress has been an annual celebration of the region's cuisine in the city of Popayán, located in western Colombia. The Congress is usually held in the first few weeks of September, and it has already had more than 21 editions, with over 22 thousand attendees.

This event has become a vibrant platform that celebrates the diversity and passion inherent to Colombian gastronomy. Through lectures, live culinary demos, and panel discussions, the Congress offers a space where professionals share their knowledge, and anyone who loves cooking gets jazzed up to start their own culinary journey.

The Popayán Gastronomic Congress isn't just about food and learning. They're all about sustainability and connecting with the local scene. They use fresh, local ingredients, team up with nearby producers, and make a positive impact on the community and food chain.

The Congress is all about showcasing the local scene – traditional dishes, native ingredients, and regional cooking styles. From the trucha a la criolla to the hearty ajiaco payanés and the flavorful tamal de pipián, it's a genuine taste of Colombia's rich flavors.

If you're ever in the area, be sure to take a stroll through the cobblestone streets of the historic center of Popayán. It's known as one of the best-preserved colonial architectural treasures in Colombia.

Mistura Gastronomic Fair - Peru

Mistura Gastronomic Fair in Peru, 2012 edition

Photo by Paul Silva

Mistura Gastronomic Festival in Lima, Peru, is a celebration of the country's diverse culinary heritage, influenced by Indigenous, European, African, and Asian cultures. Recognized as a World Culinary Destination, Peru and the Mistura festival have been a focal point for culinary enthusiasts and top chefs for over a decade.

The festival's layout features 12 gastronomic worlds, each representing a facet of Peru's culinary landscape, from Limeño dishes to Amazonian goodies.

Mistura offers a taste of Peru with iconic dishes like anticuchos, ceviche, causa, and specialties such as stuffed rocotos and chaufa amazónico.

Although the festival has not been held since 2017, its legacy still resonates as a testament to Peru's culinary expertise and cultural dedication.

While you're in Lima, make sure to visit the Pre-Columbian Textile Museum. They've got this amazing collection of fabrics and ceramics from different native cultures, showcasing the legacy of the Chancay culture.

Tabasco Chocolate Festival - Mexico

Tabasco Chocolate Festival, in the 2023 edition

Photo by Tabasco Chocolate Festival

The Tabasco Chocolate Festival is an event that began in 2010 in Villahermosa, Mexico, held each year in the month of November to celebrate the important heritage of cocoa in Mexican culture.

Rooted in pre-Hispanic times, Tabasco's historical ties to cocoa production date back to the Olmecs, who were the pioneers in savoring a cocoa infusion.

The festival features premium chocolates from local artisans and industrial producers. Experts provide insights on cocoa products, and dedicated spaces offer chocolate tastings, wine, and cheese pairings.

At the event, you'll have the opportunity to sample the indigenous cuisine of Tabasco, with traditional cooks preparing pre-Hispanic dishes over wood stoves. This is a showcase of the culinary legacies of the Yokot'an, Zoque, Olmec, and Mayan cultures.

Ñam Festival - Chile

Atmosphere at the \u00d1am festival in Santiago de Chile

Photo by Ñam Festival

The Ñam Gastronomic Festival held in Santiago de Chile has been celebrated for over a decade. The event takes place between late March and early April and intends to promote gastronomy as a cultural axis. Ñam seamlessly integrates education, celebration, training, and research. The festival has two segments: Ñam Innova and Ñam Mercado.

Ñam Innova serves as a platform that attracts professionals, academics, and gastronomy enthusiasts. With a special emphasis on social innovation, this segment facilitates in-depth discussions through talks by local and international chefs, encouraging an exchange of ideas that extends to the public.

Ñam Mercado is the most inclusive part of the festival. It is a comprehensive gastronomic celebration that offers a variety of activities and restaurants open to the public. There is also a dedicated space for children, as well as educational classes. The event provides an opportunity to explore the heart of Chile through its products, landscapes, and personalities.

If you ever find yourself in Santiago during Ñam, you've got to try the charquicán soup— It's like a taste of Chilean culture in a bowl.

National Empanada Festival - Argentina

Preparation of an Argentine empanada at the national empanada festival, in 2021

Photo by National Empanada Festival

The National Empanada Festival in Tucumán, Argentina, has been a long-standing tradition for over four decades. This annual event takes place in early September and celebrates the gastronomic heritage of the region, with a special focus on one of its most iconic dishes: the empanada.

During the festival, you'll have the opportunity to taste a wide variety of empanadas, from the classic meat and chicken ones to more creative options that incorporate local and traditional ingredients: such as the empanada de humita, filled with a mixture of soft corn, cheese and onion or empanadas filled with quince paste, sweet potato or dulce de leche.

And don't miss the best part—adding a layer of excitement to the festivities is the empanada showdown. Families bring their time-honored recipes, passed down through generations, to compete for the title of the best empanada.

These Latin American food fests go beyond just incredible eats; they're a full-on celebration of heritage and culture. And what better way to experience culture than through food?

What other food festivals would you add to the list? Tag us at our Luz Instagram @theluzmedia.

a woman giving the side eye to a man

Have you ever met someone who seems overly confident, self-centered, or even downright rude? Maybe they constantly talk about themselves, disregard your feelings, or even manipulate situations to their advantage. And, if you're anything like us and countless other Latinas, you might've thought, is this person just a purebred a**hole, or are they a narcissist?

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woman surrounded by colorful illustrations
Image by Sayuri Jimenez.

Nathalie Molina Niño has never been one to shy away from breaking barriers, and now, she’s focusing her attention on a new mission: demystifying corporate boardrooms for women, especially Latinas. Molina Niño is the President of Known, an asset management and financial services firm, a veteran tech entrepreneur and builder capitalist, and a board member at the iconic lingerie Brand, Hanky Panky, and others.

Like many corporate boards, Hanky Panky hadn’t publicly disclosed its board composition until recently. After the brand survived the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Molina Niño decided it was time for more women, specifically more Latinas, to know what it means to be on corporate boards.

Coincidentally, the decision to finally be more vocal about this topic aligned with the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, which served as the perfect kick-off to the work.

"Something that rarely gets talked about and I think almost gets kept opaque by design is boards,” she explains in a recent Instagram announcement. “[This Latinx Heritage Month], that’s what I’ll be talking about.” Her goal? To equip more Latinas with the knowledge they need to navigate onto for-profit boards, where they can thrive and build multi-generational wealth.

For-profit corporate boards often feel like an exclusive club. And in many ways, they are, especially for Latinas, who hold the smallest percentage of board seats in Fortune 500 companies compared to other racial groups. According to the latest report from Latino Board Monitor, while Latinos hold 4.1% of these board seats (compared to 82.5% held by white people), only 1% go to Latinas. Molina Niño, a first-generation American of Ecuadorian and Colombian descent, is part of this boardroom minority.

When asked about her experience as a Latina board member during a recent Zoom interview, she said, “It’s been lonely. There’s not a lot of Latinas on boards.” She went on to explain that even serving on boards of Latina-founded businesses gets lonely because, “A lot of the times, people who serve on their boards represent their investors and, as a result, [...] you still don’t see a lot of Latinas on those boards.”

This lack of representation drives Molina Niño’s determination to increase Latina presence in corporate boardrooms. By sharing her insights, she hopes to give Latinas a roadmap to claim their seats at the table. “If you don’t know where to go, it’s impossible to figure out how to get there,” she says.

The Road to the Boardroom

Getting onto a for-profit corporate board isn’t an overnight achievement, but it’s not an unattainable dream either. People often think you need to be a CEO or have a certain type of background, but that’s one of the biggest myths about boards in Molina Niño’s experience. What they’re really looking for is expertise — whether that’s in finance, marketing, sustainability, or even technology. If you have that expertise, you’re already an asset. It’s simply a matter of which road you should take.

Understanding what boards are and how they operate is key to unlocking opportunities. For-profit boards serve as the governing body for companies, overseeing direction and financial stability, and guiding CEOs and executives in decision-making. But Molina Niño emphasizes that not all for-profit boards are created equal.

“There are two kinds [of for-profit boards] [...]. There’s the publicly traded business board and then, on the privately held side, there are, I would argue, two types of boards [...] the traditional business board and the venture-backed business board,” explains Molina Niño. Traditional businesses are often family-owned or long-established and may only form boards to meet requirements, like securing financing or transitioning through an ESOP. Venture-backed boards, on the other hand, are typically filled by investors who hold major stakes in the company.

According to Molina Niño, understanding the difference between them is how you can create a successful strategy. With publicly traded business boards, the whole world is privy to them, so, “The way that you get in there is a little bit more transparent. Sometimes those publicly traded companies will hire a recruiter to help them find new board members,” explains Molina Niño. For private companies, on the other hand, there’s no legal requirement to make announcements. As a result, most people don’t know anything about them or their inner workings.

“Usually what happens in traditional businesses that don’t have venture-capital investments is that the Founders, Executives, or the board members, if one existed already, they usually go to their friends,” and people they deem experienced to fill board seats. In other words, it’s the founder’s decision, and that’s an entirely different approach than hiring recruiters. When it comes to venture-backed business boards, the seats on the board are filled by whichever investor writes the biggest check.

This is why an understanding of the different types of boards and acknowledgment of their own strengths is what will help Latinas define a sound strategy. Whether that’s working with a recruiter, networking and connecting with founders to build trust, or making the biggest investment.

The Path for Latinas

For Molina Niño, the key to getting more Latinas into corporate boardrooms is education. Knowing what a board looks like and how it functions is how you can position yourself to get on it. In openly talking about this, without the mystique it’s usually shrouded in, Molina Niño is providing women, especially Latinas, with invaluable insights. “If we had Latinas understanding what are the three types of for-profit boards I think that, on their own, they would be able to figure out what their best chance is and adjust their careers to make themselves more competitive,” states Molina Niño.

When asked about the impact of increased Latina representation in boardrooms, Molina Niño flips the narrative. “Boards don’t help Latinas by offering them seats; Latinas help businesses thrive by being on their boards,” she says. “The whole point of sitting on a board is that you have experience and expertise, and as Latinas, you also have some cultural experience that everyone wants. [...] At the end of the day, we [Latinas] have to realize that we have a ton to offer and we have to be selective about where we put that expertise,” she explains.

As demand for access to the Latina consumer rises, Molina Niño predicts that more Latinas will find themselves recruited into boardrooms. But she’s not content to sit back and wait for that moment. By openly sharing her journey and insights, she’s making sure other Latinas know their worth and have the tools to claim their place at the table. “I realized that quietly being on boards that helped me personally is not helping other Latinas. [...] I was lucky enough to have friends who could advise me and share their experiences, so that’s why I’m doing this,” she stated.

With Hispanic Heritage Month as the backdrop, Nathalie Molina Niño’s mission is clear: “My goal is just to give Latinas enough information so they can make a plan for how to eventually get on a board that they’re paid to be on and that will eventually help them build generational wealth.”

flags of latin american countries fly behind performers wearing culturally traditional clothing

Ever noticed how September in Latin America is just one big celebration? As we wave goodbye to summer and avoid winter as long as we can, the streets come alive with parades, music, and festivities. Many Latin American countries celebrate their freedom this month, commemorating their hard-fought battles for independence from colonial domination. Let’s dive into these significant days and understand what makes each unique.

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