The Heart of Hispanic Culture is Actually the Stomach:
Just a Preface here, I know many Latin-based cultures have the same/similar food, all the ones I listed are predominantly Mexican because it’s the culture I grew up with.
As a mixed child, I like to joke about being a “Vanilla Mexican” Usually referred to someone who has white skin and/or doesn’t speak Spanish, but is in fact a Mexican. I am a vanilla Mexican, my only real connection to my roots outside my family, is food. I grew up on rice, beans, chicken, and tortillas. They’re cheap, easy to make, and I could eat them for the rest of my life.
Food is important, not only is it what your body needs to literally survive, but it also brings us closer as people. Especially Mexican food! Taco Tuesdays are a thing for a reason, right? Each culture sharing its culinary knowledge with outsiders or other folk is one of everyone’s favorite. When somebody visits your hometown, you tell them all about your favorite restaurants and when you visit anywhere out of the country people always ask you how the food was.
I have many memories of my Gandma Cleo in the kitchen making the best food imaginable. She would mix and flip her tortillas with her bare hands, she would give me all kinds of goodies while I waited for dinner to be finished. I sat with her happily, although there wasn’t always a spoon to lick, but there were always stories to be heard, tastes to be tested, and laughs to be shared