Image

The Department of Journalism will host guest speaker Laura Tillman to discuss her latest book, “The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García,” in the Journalism Hub on the 4^th floor of the ILC at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Tillman, a Mexico City–based journalist, will describe her writing process, what it was like working with one of Mexico’s most talented chefs, the keys to crafting a compelling narrative and more.

The winner of the James Beard Foundation’s 2024 Award for Literary Writing, “The Migrant Chef” (W.W. Norton, May 2023) tells the story of Eduardo “Lalo” García Guzmán. Born in rural Mexico, García and his family left for the United States when he was a child, picking fruits and vegetables on the migrant route from Florida to Michigan. He worked in Atlanta restaurants as a teenager before being convicted of a robbery, incarcerated and eventually deported. He landed in Mexico City as a new generation of chefs was questioning culinary hierarchies, eventually opening the acclaimed restaurant, Máximo Bistrot.

Tillman spent five years reporting on García’s story, from Máximo’s kitchen to the onion fields of Vidalia, Georgia, to Dubai’s first high-end Mexican restaurant and García’s hometown of San José de las Pilas.

Image

“For her compelling, well-written biography of the chef and restaurateur Eduardo García, known as Lalo, the author spent five years reporting, researching and traveling,” Florence Fabricant wrote in her review in The New York Times. “Threaded through [Lalo’s] story and that of his family is in-depth information that broadens the scope of the book: Ms. Tillman discusses the history of Mexican food, farmworker conditions in the United States, Mexican politics and earthquakes, and the inequities and challenges of the restaurant business.”

“A wonderful, amazingly written biography about this elite chef in Mexico City’s world-class food scene,” Carrie Kahn said in her review of the book on NPR’s “Weekend Edition.” “It’s filled with so much drama, it needs no embellishment. But the author, Laura Tillman, just injects keen insight, a deft prose. And what I really loved was her fascinating historical context about Mexico, about Mexican food origins, cooking tips. You know, sometimes during the read, my mouth was watering, and my mind was fully satiated.”

For more information about the event, contact Hannah Bevis, communications and events manager for the journalism department, at hbevis@umass.edu.