A note from Evanice
Founder & Chef of Señoreata
Señoreata, pronounced [sen-yor-eet-ah], launched in East Los Angeles in, summer of 2017. As a first-generation Cuban, Brazilian American, food was and continues to be the adhesive that bonds my culture and I together in a way that feels rooted and personal. I don’t have stories growing up on the island, but I have warm memories from weekends in Downtown Los Angeles at my Abuelita’s eating her Arroz Con Pollo and Ropa Vieja.
Growing up in a Cuban American household, questions like “¿Ya comiste?” or “Have you eaten?” we’re subtext for, “I love you.”
The warmth I feel remembering my Father and Abuelita’s cooking isn’t just because it was delicious; it’s how those dishes nurtured me with love. When I went vegetarian at 15, then vegan at 18, I was devoid of the food that tethered me to my heritage because of my inability to cook. A plant-based teen in a Latinx household? Olvídate tú. Cooking without animal products was a foreign language my immigrant family couldn’t fathom learning. So I taught myself to cook, beginning by adapting the Cuban recipes I missed so much.
Cooking changed my life. It both illuminated and immersed me into a lifelong commitment to connecting with my culture through food. Informed by climate change, food inequity, and chronic disease prevention, Señoreata is a dedication to advancing the accessibility of healthy, culturally pertinent foods in areas that experience food injustice. It’s me taking control of my narrative as a modern first-generation woman, following tradition, by showing love to people through the food I feed them—each bite imprinting a taste of Cuban culture.