Born in the Sonoran border town of Agua Prieta, (retired) Mexican chef Zarela Martinez is a renowned cultural interpreter between Mexico and the United States through the medium of food. Opening in 1987, her eponymous “Zarela” Restaurant in NYC set standards of authenticity among New York Mexican restaurants. A sought-after speaker and consultant for major corporations, she has written the pioneering cookbooks Food from My Heart, The Food and Life of Oaxaca, and Zarela’s Veracruz, the last published in conjunction with her public television series ¡Zarela! La Cocina Veracruzana.
Zarela was a trailblazer in the male-dominated culinary world, succeeding as a young, Hispanic female, and opening doors for other young women and Mexicans to join her at the top. She ran her acclaimed Manhattan restaurant Zarela from 1987 to 2011, introducing regional Mexican cuisine to a city that was accumstomed to Tex-Mex dishes . She is also a 2013 inductee in the James Beard Foundation Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. Additionally, Harvard University bought her papers for the Radcliffe Library in 2013.
In short, Zarela is a pioneer of regional Mexican cuisine in New York City, restauranteur, celebrated chef extraordinaire, author and businesswoman, who has inspired a generation of young Hispanic chefs and restaurateurs to build today’s Latino food scene in New York City.
The Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, Inc. (CHCF) is honored to have Zarela Martinez as one of our 2017
'Opening Doors for Women' Award
recipients.
Join us in celebrating Zarela's trailblazing talent, determination, dedication, and commitment to breaking down barriers.
