I love tacos, and when I first arrived in New Hampshire in 1993 as a medical student living in the Upper Valley, I realized I was a long way from Southern California and the tacos I’d grown up with when the only Mexican food source was a fast food chain franchise, where I was astounded to see the overhead menu displayed phonetic spelling for each of the food items: “boo-ree-toe”!
One day, my two Mexican-American classmates and I set out in search of Mexican food rumored to be available in a not too distant town in Vermont. It felt like a quest. Sadly, our too expensive (for our student budgets) meal was disappointing, and we resigned ourselves to living in a beautiful place with no gastronomic connection to home. We were excited when Shorty’s opened; the chips and salsa made it a favored site for celebrations!
Fast forward 28 years and I am thrilled to learn of Lalo’s Taqueria in Lebanon through “The Flavors of our Neighbors: At Lalo’s In Lebanon, The Taco Is King,” an NHPR story reported online July 2. A mouth-watering picture reveals authentic-looking tacos I can practically taste, light years from what I experienced in 1993, and sparks an urge for a road trip to catch lunch or dinner!
New Hampshire Public Radio is now running a wonderful limited weekly series, “The Flavors of Our Neighbors”/”Los Sabores de Nuestros Vecinos.” The Editor’s Note begins, “More than just a place to eat, local restaurants provide a taste of home for people through food and connections made with the folks who run them. This was never so evident as when the pandemic closed many of these gathering places, some for good … comprised of multimedia stories that highlight Latino restaurant owners, we learn how these entrepreneurs have not only weathered the pandemic but found ways to thrive and continue to provide a sense of community for their customers.”
In addition to stimulating our appetites, these stories evoke a connection to home, family, culture and community, for those of us with recent or remote roots in one of the many countries of Latin America. This is especially evident in the first story in the series, “The Flavors Of Our Neighbors: At Don Quijote, It’s Important To Feel At Home,” which highlighted restaurateur Sandra Almonte’s efforts “to make each person who walks through here feel as though they were stepping into their grandparents’ house.”
I am honored to be a member of the community-media partnership that collaboratively conceived of this project. We hope you will be inspired to check out “The Flavors Of Our Neighbors” and join us in creating community together over good food, as friends and neighbors in New Hampshire.