Irma’s Purpose Born in Mexico City, Irma Chavez first came to D.C. at age twenty-one to work as a babysitter. Overworked and underpaid for almost a year, she quit. Before, in Mexico, she had started as a secretary with aims to move into administration. But in the United States, because of her immigrant status, it was difficult for her to be formally hired. Instead, she found work in one of the few places available to undocumented immigrants: a restaurant kitchen. Away from home, and disappointed by the Mexican food available in the United States, Irma longed for the food of her mother and grandmother, and of mercados and taquerías. She dedicated herself to learning the recipes of her homeland. “I didn’t know how to cook,” she says. “I’d spent $500 on phone bills, calling my mother to be told how to cook this, how to cook that. And I had her on the phone and told her, ‘It doesn’t taste the same!’ So she would tell me what I’d missed.” In 1992, she remembers, the Mexican population in the D.C. area was sparse. Mexican products were hard to find even in Latin American grocery stores, something she’s happy has changed over the years. Irma gained resident status when she married a U.S. citizen. In 2000, she was employed as a meeting planner, returning to the administrative field. But by that time, she had fallen in love with cooking. Irma Chavez Cooking is a game of chemistry, where love and commitment are essential ingredients. With this in mind, Irma began cooking and bringing beef tongue and fried tacos to her office for special occasions as a gesture of empathy and gratitude. Her co-workers, fascinated by the flavor of true Mexican cuisine and how it differed from the popular Tex-Mex, began to ask her for cooking classes and hired her to cater important events. Inspired by the support of her community, she won the MGM City Recipe Showdown contest at National Harbor and went to compete in the Final Recipe Showdown in Las Vegas in 2018. She now runs a catering business. Irma draws her inspiration from people like activist Cristina Martínez, a Mexican immigrant based in Philadelphia. Cristina’s barbacoa restaurant caught the media’s eye, after she appeared in several episodes of Netflix food shows like Chef’s Table and Ugly Delicious. Irma also learned from the example of Pati Jinich, a Mexican chef who teaches traditional cuisine on her own PBS show. Now, Irma, herself a role model within the D.C. Mexican community, represents hundreds of women whose migration stories have a close relationship with the kitchen. She feels free to tell her story, having gained legal residency, but understands that unlike her, many women are silenced. Her purpose, besides Text from article “The Social Power of the Taco” by Díana Gabriela Pérez Valle