Ages 18+

Participants will learn the process of grilling and working with corn and make an ancestral southwest salad using dried chiles, seasonal produce and farm fresh elotes. Corn silk tea will also be served. Held near the summer solstice, this class centers on abundance, energy, and nourishment under the sun. Participants will prepare a bold summer dish rooted in corn and seasonal produce—foods traditionally associated with strength, vitality, and communal gathering. Alongside cooking techniques, the class reflects on how summer foods support labor, ceremony, and celebration, honoring the role of seasonal eating in Indigenous lifeways.

A communal tasting closes the session. Special guest, Dr. and Chef Claudia Serrato,  Dr. and Chef Claudia Serrato, Indigenous Culinary Anthropologist, Co-Foundress of Across Our Kitchen Tables.

Dr. Claudia Serrato, of P’urhépecha and Zacateca cultural heritage roots, is a Xicana culinary anthropologist, chef, and educator whose work centers on ancestral taste memory and the cultural power of food. Holding a Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Washington, she activates memory through cooking, teaching, and storytelling, reconnecting Native and Mesoamerican communities to ancestral ingredients and foodways. Her vision blends scholarship with practice to reveal how taste carries history, identity, and survival—whether in classrooms, kitchens, or community spaces. For Dr. Serrato, food is not only nourishment but ceremony and remembrance, a way flavors connect generations across time and space. 

Based in Los Angeles, Dr. Serrato shares her expertise through workshops, cooking classes, and public speaking, elevating Indigenous culinary traditions as vessels of memory and cultural continuity. She has been featured in the New York Times and New York Times Cooking Channel, Telemundo, NPR’s Good Food, ABC Primetime, HULU, TASTEMADE, Smithsonian’s Indigenous Voices of the Americas, the Natural History Museum, and more. While she strongly advocates for food justice and sovereignty, her work is distinguished by its focus on taste as knowledge and on the ways ancestral memory nourishes identity and resilience. 

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Parking
Planning your visit? Explore parking options near LA Plaza:
Option 1: LA Plaza Village
Address: 555 N. Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90012
*This parking lot is closest to Buffalo Wild Wings on Spring St. and Cesar Chavez Ave. If needed, this is ADA friendly and has ramps and elevator access to the underground lot.
Cost: $3.50 every 15 min, $18 max

Option 2: LA Plaza Parking Lot
Address: 171 Arcadia St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Cost: $20 Flat Fee (Mon–Fri); $15 Flat Fee (Weekends). Fees might change during holidays or special occasions.

Arrival
Please allow time to arrive early to find parking. Classes have a 5-10 minute late window but will start promptly after that time.

Dress Code
We highly encourage that attendees wear closed-toe shoes when attending an active cooking class.

Photo and Media Consent
By participating in this program, you consent to LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes using photographs taken of you for advertising, promotional, and marketing purposes.

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