By Lisa Jimenez

Silver City -- The Silver City Museum's exploration of local culture continues Saturday, August 20, when celebrated author, playwright, performance artist and teacher Denise Chávez presents “A Taste of Home,” sharing recipes and excerpts from her memoir, “A Taco Testimony: Meditations on Family, Food and Culture” and its upcoming sequel, “¡Delfina, Más Tacos!” 

Food, family memories related to that food and how food helps define this place we call home are all topics on the table for savoring at this community conversation, held from 11 am to 1 pm at the Silco Theater in historic, downtown Silver City. Chávez asks audience members to bring their favorite recipes to share, along with pen and paper to write about the memories connected to that particular food. 

Food is one of Chávez's favorite things, and is tastefully woven into all of her writing, which now includes five books, including "The King and Queen of Comezón," "Loving Pedro Infante," "Face of An Angel," and a short story collection, "The Last of the Menu Girls." She's also written recent articles for Edible Magazine: "Chile is Home" and "Remembering the Chicharrones." An actor with a degree in theater, Chávez also has performed her one-woman shows, "Novena Narrativas" and "El Muro/The Wall: A Chorus of Immigrant Women's Voices throughout the U.S." 

A Taco Testimony is a memoir about Chávez' mother, Delfina, their family and life growing up in Las Cruces, and of course, food; especially tacos.

"I always write about food," says Chávez. "My mother was a single mom and didn't always have time to cook, but when she did she was a taco master," she recalls fondly. "She would make taco meat, an olla of frijoles and she made her own tortillas, even though she was a full-time teacher and had a very busy life."

All community conversations are co-sponsored  by the Western Institute for Lifelong Learning  (WILL), and held at the historic Silco Theater, 311 N. Bullard Street. Community conversations happen monthly and include a guest presentation designed to explore the diverse and fascinating history and culture of our region. "A Taste of Home" is part of a series exploring regional cultural identity. Future topics to be explored include the environment, the myths and realities of the West, the economy, rural healthcare and more.

Community conversations are also available via live stream on Zoom and Facebook. For more information, please contact Cathleen Norman, the museum's programs coordinator, at (720) 394-8626, or education@silvercitymuseum.org.