Iliana De la Vega

Chef / Owner from El Naranjo

I grew up in Mexico City in a time when only European cuisines were viewed as elegant and worthy of being served at restaurants. Back then, and only until fairly recently, Mexican food was considered home cooking, prepared for one’s family but never for dinner guests.

My mother was from Oaxaca and my grandmother would often send boxes full of Oaxacan delicacies: smoky chiles, almond laced chocolate, sesame seed speckled breads, and bags filled with fragrant spices like oregano and cinnamon. It was like Christmas day for me. My mother was traditional with her cooking, hand-picking each ingredient from the market, making everything from scratch, and preparing each dish exactly as her mother and grandmother had done before her. I loved watching her cook, going to the market with her, and travelling around Mexico with my family, tasting picadas in Veracruz, or cemitas in Puebla. I found the flavors of Mexico complex, diverse, and soulful; nothing if not elegant. 

Hoping for others to see how worthy Mexican food can be, and that it can belong in fine dining, I moved to Oaxaca and opened El Naranjo in 1997. I had always enjoyed teaching, and after a few people asked for my mole recipes, I opened a cooking school as well. Unfortunately, a period of political unrest forced my family out of Mexico, though I reopened El Naranjo in Austin in 2012. A few consulting projects allowed me to take chefs and companies to a couple of Mexican cities, and after various requests for guided tours to Oaxaca, Mexican Culinary Traditions, now Culinary Traditions, was born.

Through El Naranjo and the culinary trips, I keep my dream of sharing the food and culture of Mexico with the world alive.

 

CREDENTIALS

Iliana de la Vega won worldwide acclaim for her restaurant and cooking school in Oaxaca, El Naranjo, which was featured in numerous newspapers and magazines, such as The New York Times and Bon Appetit.

The reincarnation of El Naranjo in Austin has been recognized as the best Mexican restaurant in the city. Before the brick and mortar restaurant came into being, de la Vega owned El Naranjo Mobile and Catering, a successful food trailer that was called, “the only real Mexican restaurant in Texas” by Texas Monthly magazine.

She is a 2019 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Southwest, a 2020 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Texas, and a 2022 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Texas.

She is also a passionate teacher and served as the Mexican/Latin Cuisines Specialist for The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) from 2007 to 2012.

In 2014, the Mexican Government granted her the prestigious Ohtli award in recognition for her work with the Hispanic population and for furthering Mexican gastronomy. That same year, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named her Hispanic Female Entrepreneur of the year. She currently also serves as a consultant for the prestigious Stanford University Dinning Enterprises.

Isabel Torrealba graduated with honors in Cultural Anthropology from The University of Texas at Austin and also holds a master’s degree in Cultural Reporting and Criticism from New York University. Her work has appeared in Atlas Obscura, Food52, Slate Magazine, LA Review of Books, Edible Austin, Eater, and The Art of Eating, among others. Along with de la Vega, she co-founded Mexican Culinary Traditions, now Culinary Traditions, in 2015. 

Isabel Torrealba

Cultural Anthropologist and Journalist

Though born in Mexico City, I consider Oaxaca to be my hometown. It’s in this colorful and mountainous place where all my childhood memories take place. As the youngest daughter of Chef Iliana, I was fortunate to call El Naranjo my home, and I spent my days hiding under tables and tablecloths, or inside pantries and kitchens, playing with the waiters and cooks, and, of course, learning to cook (and eat) Mexican food. As my mother had done with her own mother, we would often visit the nearby market—I even got lost there once. It fascinated me to see how easily she could navigate the aisles, her familiarity with the vendors, and how she just seemed to know what everything was and how to use it in her cooking.

I imagined I too would be a chef one day, so I helped the cooks make tamales, and assisted my mom in her cooking classes during the summer. Eventually, I realized my food related talents lie more with eating than cooking, so I became a cultural anthropologist and journalist instead. Still, food somehow seems to always find its way back into my mind, ending in a good amount of my research and writing. Because I believe food cannot be fully understood without proper context, I like to think of it—the ingredients, the rituals of eating—in relation to place, people, and the history and circumstances that lead to its creation. My travels, both the personal and shared, along with my food writing, are framed with this idea.