Decolonize Your Mind and Diet (cookbook)

Mexican Buddha bowls galore

International Latino Book Award winner for best cookbook, this is more than just a cookbook. Decolonize Your Diet redefines what is meant by "traditional" Mexican food.

It does it by reaching back through centuries of history to reclaim heritage crops as a source of protection from modern diseases of industrial development.

Authors Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel are partners. When Calvo was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, they both radically changed their diets and began seeking out recipes featuring healthy, vegetarian Mexican foods.

Mesoamerican Mayan meditation

They promote a diet that is rich in plants indigenous to the Americas (seeds, beans, squash, greens, herbs, corn) and are passionate about the idea that Latinx in America, specifically Mexicans, need to ditch the fast food and return to their own culture's food roots for both physical health and spiritual fulfillment.

This vegetarian cookbook features over 100 colorful recipes based on Mesoamerican cuisine and also includes contributions from indigenous cultures throughout the Americas, such as

• Kabocha squash in green pipian,
• Aguachile de quinoa,
• Mesquite corn tortillas,
• Tepary bean salad, and
• Amaranth chocolate cake.

Steeped in history very much rooted in the contemporary world, Decolonize Your Diet introduces readers to the energizing and healing properties of a plant-based Mexican-American diet.

Full-color throughout. Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel are professors at California State East Bay and San Francisco State University, respectively. They grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs on their small urban farm. More