Ava Kofman Photo
“Now this is a family secret,” Caprice Taylor Mendez said, leaning over a large bowl of boiled plantains mashed like potato.
Mendez was preparing her mother’s traditional Guatemalan recipe for Rellenitos de Plantanos. Mendez’ mother, Silvia Taylor, stood by her daughter’s side watching as Caprice now cooked for Fair Haven the recipe Taylor had once cooked for Caprice.
This recipe share was part of a larger communal-cooking effort spearheaded by the not-for-profit CitySeed organization and sponsored by the New Haven Food Policy Council at a “pop-up” mini-version of the upcoming Arts & Ideas Festival that took place in Fair Haven Saturday.
The two “pop-up” festivals – –the previous week in Dixwell, then on Saturday in Fair Haven – – aim to connect the festival to the neighborhoods.
With the exception of the two coordinators, all the cooks giving demonstrations at the CitySeed booth live in Fair Haven. They shared practical skills along with personal stories. The goal: more healthful cooking with cultural relevancy intact.
“We want this to be a fun environment where ‘healthy’ isn’t a bad word,” explained Nadine Nelson, a New Haven chef who co-organized the booth.
The Fair Haveners who watched Mendez’s bilingual demonstration with rapt attention learned the Mendez family secret: cinnamon. The spice added taste and a golden-brown color to the plantains. The booth was one of several related to food policy and education.
“What nutrition do black beans have?” Mendez asked 15 onlookers.
“Protein,” someone shouted.
“Iron!” shouted another.
Mendez nodded enthusiastically, adding that beans also provide high fiber.
In a small saucepan over low heat, Mendez stirred refried black beans. Her mother used to prepare refried beans from scratch; Mendez, if she’s pressed for time, gets them from a can.
For frying the plantains, Mendez prefers to use coconut oil over regular oil, in order to give the dish zero bad cholesterol.
“Excuse me, where would I buy this?” a woman asked in Spanish.
“At Stop and Shop,” said Mendez.
“And what’s it called again?”
“Coconut oil,” Mendez repeated in Spanish.
In the crowd, two women traded stories about coconut oil and its beneficial results for weight loss.
As the oil began to sizzle in the pan, Mendez scooped beans into the plantain dough. “You could say I’m greedy,” Mendez joked, “because I took a tablespoon of beans, whereas normal people take a teaspoon.”
The plantains, she said, could also be lined with cheese.
“Oh, now you’re talking about it,” said Winsome Hayden, a Fair Haven resident. “What kind?”
“Mozzarella…Prosciutto, no not prosciutto. I mean provolone,” Mendez answered.
“Provolone!,” Hayden said. “I was going to say provolone.”
Hayden originally came to the Festival for the Zumba demo, then ended up staying for the demonstrations. Both, she said, will help her lose weight
As she fried the plantain balls into crisp shells, Mendez talked about how lucky she was to grow up in New Haven with a mom who made homemade food. “She wouldn’t let us eat out,” she said.
Her rellenitos de platano were served with the previous demonstration’s kale salad recipe. The salad’s greens were sourced from CitySeed’s mobile market. “I’ve never known how to cook kale,” Hayden said as she ate her sample. “I always see it in the store. I’m going to cook it now for me and my husband.”
“I’m going to make some that,” Johanna Epperson said after eating a sample. “This was delicious.” She took one of the printed-out recipes.
Epperson, who lives in City Point, came to the festival because her family lives in Fair Haven. Her timing was fortuitous.
She had bought plantains at the supermarket last week because of their low price, five for a dollar, but soon realized she had no idea what to do with them. Until Saturday. She was relieved to hear that the now near-brown plantain in her fridge was, in fact, not rotten but actually perfect for use in this recipe.
In fact, Epperson was lucky on three counts, having received coconut oil as a gift last Christmas. “Now I know what to do with it too,” she said, as she finished her sample. Then, she signed up for free cooking classes. Home cooking was coming home.
Kids visualized their nutritional choices at another booth in the food corner.
The String Quartet Truck played a sprightly arrangement of “Man in the Mirror.”
Tepayac dancers performed flamenco after readings from the Christopher Columbus poets.
Some Fair Haven neighbors had a great view of the day’s festivities just from their porches.
Terrific! I've been talking to people for about a year now about wanting to host an "ethnic" cooking class, festival, whatever in my own neighborhood. I see so many people living on chips & soda for breakfast, McDonald's or pizza for supper--because they don't know how to cook. And they don't know their own ethnic cuisine or how to "tweak" it to make it healthier without destroying its character.