Making Chocolate – Culinary & Folk Arts of Oaxaca

Name: Making Chocolate – Culinary & Folk Arts of Oaxaca
Start: 2025-10-20T14:00:00-07:00
End: 2025-10-20T17:00:00-07:00
Location: 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, California 93105

Schedule

Mon Oct 20 2025 at 02:00 pm to 05:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, California 93105 | Santa Barbara, CA

Join Bany Vargas for a hands-on workshop celebrating traditional Oaxacan ways of making chocolate. Explore the botany of cacao trees and learn about the cultural significance of cacao and chocolate. Roast organic Oaxacan cacao beans over a clay comal, peel them, and grind ingredients with a handmill or metate. Mold your chocolate and take it home, if you can resist eating it that long! Enjoy a prepared chocolate drink at the end of the workshop.
Members $50, non-members $65. For ages 14 and up, and children must be accompanied by an adult. Space is limited, so register online today:
https://tickets.sbnature.org/events/49dc023a-0736-078f-0553-b54251cd982b
Instructor is bilingual and ready to support Spanish-speaking participants by request.
About the Instructor
Bany Vargas was born in Telixtlahuaca, Oaxaca, and immigrated to Santa Barbara, California, at age 8. Though raised in the U.S., her Oaxacan roots remained strong—tied, as her grandmother said, to the traditional burial of her umbilical stump in her hometown. After 27 years, she returned to Oaxaca to reconnect with her heritage. A trained chef, Bany shifted her focus from commercial kitchens to traditional Oaxacan cooking, learning directly from her grandmother, Chaguita. This journey led her to create Chocolate Chaguita, a brand honoring ancestral methods like stone-grinding cacao on a metate. Today, Bany is dedicated to preserving and reimagining Oaxacan culinary traditions through chocolate, mole, and masa-based dishes.
Discover the entire series of Culinary & Folk Arts of Oaxaca workshops:
October 19: Maize, Masa, and Tacos*
October 20: Making Chocolate*
October 21: Cooking with Insects*
October 22: Paint Your Own Alebrije
October 23: Mexican Metal Art
For more information, contact [email protected].
*Get a series ticket for all three culinary workshops: Members $100, non-members $130
Photo by Celeste Camarillo