Mexican Independence Day: El Grito

(eastla-parade.com)

Hispanic Heritage Month begins today (Sept. 15th). How is it celebrated? As with most Mexican things, delicious food is involved. Unable to stop the British Empire's intrusion west, Mexico fought a war to expel Spain (France and other European occupiers) during the Mexican War of Independence. It was ultimately successful not on Cinco de Mayo (which was just a successful battle against French forces expelling them from Puebla, near the largest pyramid in the world in Cholula). 

• What's Mexico's "4th of July"? El Grito de Independencia ("The Shout of Independence" or "Cry of Dolores")

East LA hosts Mexican Independence Day Parade

(ABC7) Sept. 14, 2025: The 79th annual East LA Mexican Independence Day Parade and Festival was held under the theme of "Tradition, Education and Achievement." More: abc7.com/17774373

It's National Hispanic Heritage Month

In Spanish es el Mes nacional de la herencia hispana, which is observed annually from September 15 to October 15 in the United States for recognizing the contributions and influence of Hispanic culture to this nation's achievements, culture, and history. More

• Hispanic and Latino Americans

• Vegan Mexican at Home (by Dora)

Fiestas Patrias | ELA Parade Fest

Grand Marshal Jose Hernandez

Food, live music, dance performances, and more are on tap for the 79th annual East L.A. Mexican Independence Day Parade and Festival. Astronaut and current University of California Regent José M. Hernández is the parade’s grand marshal.

In a year that has been challenging for the Mexican American (Chicano) community in L.A., it’s a great opportunity to get out and celebrate all that makes East Los Angeles and LA's largest immigrant community (some say its new majority) so vibrant, unique, and joyous.

• Best things to do this weekend in Los Angeles and Southern California: Sept. 12-14 (LAist.com)

What is there to eat this month? Decolonize Your Diet

More than just a cookbook, Decolonize Your Diet redefines what is meant by "traditional" Mexican food by reaching back through hundreds of years of history to reclaim heritage crops as a source of protection from modern diseases of development.

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

Yeah, but will it taste good with spice and guac?

They promote an eating lifestyle that is rich in plants indigenous to the Americas (amaranth, squash, corn, beans, greens, herbs, and seeds) and are passionate about the idea that Latinos 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 veggie 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 but 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. It is full-color throughout. Decolonize Your Diet: Plant-Based Mexican-American Recipes for Health and Healing

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Start a community garden or urban yard-farm

Professors Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel teach at California State East Bay and San Francisco State University, respectively. They grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs on their small urban farm. This is their first book. Esquibel received her Ph.D. in the History of Consciousness Program at UC Santa Cruz (1999) and is now an associate professor in Race and Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University and author of With her Machete in her Hand (U of Texas Press, 2006). She has also published poetry, drama, and literary criticism. Her father's family has lived in northern New Mexico for more than 12 generations. On her mother's side, her great-great-grandmother, great-grandmother, and grandmother all migrated from Sonora to Los Angeles between 1913 and 1919. Each of these women made a living cooking for Mexican migrant workers and Chicanos y Chicanas in Los Angeles. More

More: Mexican "El Grito" celebrations all around the USA

• EastLA-parade.com via LAist.com; Crystal Quintero, CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit