Have you ever sat in your favorite taqueria getting ready to bite into a taco al pastor on a warm, homemade corn tortilla and wondered where the delicious dish came from? Sure, it technically came from the talented hands of the cooks working inside the restaurant’s kitchen, but we’re talking about the taco’s long history. How did that taco al pastor end up on your plate?
Food aficionados can now get the answer to that question and many others with the opening of LA Plaza Cocina, the first museum dedicated to Mexican food. According to Eater Los Angeles, LA Plaza Cocina, which opened earlier this month in downtown L.A., will host events, exhibits, and programs that celebrate Mexican cuisine and culture.
The museum’s first exhibition, “Maize: Past, Present, and Future,” is a tribute to the indigenous food culture. Included in the exhibition, which was curated by Maite Gomez Rejón and Ximena Martin, are tools from the Mesoamerican era that were used to shell dried corn and produce masa for foods like tortillas and tamales.
Along with exhibitions like “Maize: Past, Present, and Future,” LA Plaza Cocina will serve as an interactive venue where chefs can hold cooking demos and private events. At their disposal inside the museum: a modern kitchen and a large iron comal. “We also want to bring in the home cooks, not just the famous ones,” Martin said.
Other events that will take place at the museum include Mexican wine tastings, mezcal classes, and culinary-related documentary film screenings.
For more information on LA Plaza Cocina, visit lapca.org/la-plaza-cocina.