“The Garland Latino Heritage Cookbook,” a compilation of recipes and stories from Garland’s diverse array of citizens with Latino backgrounds, will be unveiled on Saturday, May 15, at a 5 p.m. Fiesta on the site of the original Manuel and Maria Valle home, Avenue C at Santa Fe.
The cookbook honors the growth of Garland’s Latino population from the original family—the Valles and their eight children, who arrived in Garland in 1928—to the large numbers of Latinos that have now become Garland’s majority ethnic group. It serves as the first written history of Garland’s Latinos and reflects on these individuals’ contributions to help make the city a better place. It is produced by the nonprofit Friends of Garland’s Historic Magic 11th Street.
The cookbook includes recipes for breads, salads, soups, appetizers, sides, entrees and desserts. Each recipe has a family story accompanying it; full stories of 12 outstanding Garland families of Latino origin also are featured in the book.
The Fiesta/Book Launch will occur at the conclusion of “The Cactus Chronicles” musical drama, to focus on the life of the last surviving Valle sibling, Pascual Valle and his wife Sylvia, at Plaza Theatre Downtown Garland. The 5 p.m. Fiesta event is held under the auspices of First Baptist Church Garland, owner of the vacant land at Avenue C at Santa Fe where the Valle home was situated and the Valle children were reared. The fiesta will be held at this church-owned site around Mom Maria Valle’s cactus bed.
All guests are welcome to attend the free event and bring a picnic supper for an old-fashioned dinner on the grounds on the Valle site. Contributors to the cookbook are asked to bring one dish of the recipe they submitted to share with their family at the picnic and an identical dish for display. Guests will be seated at safe-spaced picnic areas that have been staked out at a 6-foot distance. (This is a nonalcoholic event.)
The event will feature a proclamation, recognition of family members and recipe contributors, a birthday observance for Pascual Valle, who turns 90 that weekend, and carriage rides in the area, as well as the book launch/sale.
The 232-page cookbook, with its full-color cover designed by Valle great-grandson James Maxwell Valle, will sell for $20. Advance orders are underway, with an early bird price of $18. Individuals who contributed recipes to the cookbook will receive a special discount as well.
To pre-order cookbooks, email friendsofgarlandsmagic11thstreet.com. Cookbooks can be picked up at the start of the Fiesta.
The musical drama, “The Cactus Chronicles,” is sold out of live-performance tickets for the 3 p.m. performance. Livestreaming tickets may be purchased through this link: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/47599