Pépin Lecture Series- Abuelita's Kitchen with Dr. Sarah Portnoy

For the second event in our Spring 2025 Pépin Lecture Series, Boston University Food Studies Programs have invited documentary filmmaker, activist, and scholar Dr. Sarah Portnoy to discuss her documentary and museum exhibit, Abuelita’s Kitchen: Mexican Food Stories. We will be showing part of Dr. Portnoy’s film with a discussion to follow.

Abuelita’s Kitchen: Mexican Food Stories beautifully captures the food-centered narratives of ten abuelas, each representing the rich diversity within the Mexican community—indigenous, mestiza, Afro-Mexican, and Mexican-American. These women have preserved and adapted Mexican culinary traditions within the vibrant mosaic of Los Angeles. Through their eloquent storytelling, each grandmother reveals her profound connection to Mexican cuisine, sharing the intimate details of her migration journey, the sacrifices made along the way, and the pivotal role food plays in expressing love and maintaining familial bonds.

This documentary was developed by USC professor Dr. Sarah Portnoy with support from California Humanities and LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. Abuelita’s Kitchen along with a traveling exhibit reveals each’s abuela’s unique relationship to Mexican cuisine, their birthplace in Mexico, and their current homes in the City of Los Angeles. This exhibit has will last through at least 2028 and has already taken residence in four cities. It will in Forth Worth, TX through May 11.

Dr. Sarah Portnoy is a documentary filmmaker, food justice advocate, and a Food Studies professor at the University of Southern California. She has created and produced a series of documentary films that capture the stories of Mexican grandmothers, highlighting their connections to food and migration, in four U.S. border cities. She has been a dedicated food justice activist for many years, deeply involved in the movement to legalize street vending in Los Angeles and share the stories of L.A.’s sidewalk vendors.

Host or Publisher Boston University Programs in Food & Wine