![]() Later this year, La Cocina plans to open a marketplace in the Tenderloin District. "But I think we would be doing a disservice to reality of the space if we also didn't talk about how tense that can be, to have that many people from different places in the world come together, certainly with a shared purpose." And that's a really beautiful thing," he says. "It's just an incredible and exciting range of techniques, flavors, perspectives, age, language. Some can prep for a farmer's market sale, corporate catering gigs or weddings, while others might be making and packaging their food products. Zigas says as many as eight businesses can work in the kitchen space at La Cocina at any one time. Two alumnae of its culinary program, Nite Yun and Reem Assil, were even recognized as semi-finalists for prestigious James Beard awards.Ī new cookbook, We are La Cocina: Recipes in Pursuit of the American Dream, tells some of their stories. ![]() Over the years, many of its alumni have found success: More than 50 chefs in its program have become self-sufficient business owners, and many of them have opened their own brick-and-mortar restaurants. Since it began in 2005, it's been helping local food entrepreneurs, many of whom are low-income immigrant women, develop their small businesses. It's also the name of a business incubator based in San Francisco's Mission District. "La Cocina" means "the kitchen" in Spanish. A graduate of La Cocina's program for food entrepreneurs, Villanueva now provides catering to scores of Bay Area companies each month, and her tamales are sold in Northern California Whole Foods stores. From left: Gloria Amaya, José Amaya, Silvia Gómez, and Alicia Villanueva, the founder of Tamales Los Mayas.
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