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Team
Chef Luis Martinez
Chef Luis Martinez was born in Santa Catarina Loxicha, Oaxaca, Mexico, in a small Zapotec pueblo. He came to the US in 2005, after studying Fine Arts at the state university while also working in kitchens around Oaxaca City. Upon arriving in the US, he experienced the harsh reality of migrant work and the shock of a different culture as a farmworker in Indio, California. After eventually moving to Los Angeles, Luis got back into the restaurant industry, where he worked in several restaurants and cuisines, always alongside other Oaxacans. These chefs taught Luis how to infuse Oaxacan culture and cuisine into his cooking by using various methodologies, from traditional ingredients to Asian techniques. Now based in Asheville, NC, Luis is combining his love for cooking with his passion for social justice.
One of the factors that pushed Luis to the US was the Mexican government’s designation of his community-building efforts in indigenous communities as politically dangerous. Because of his involvement, he experienced extreme abuse from the government, ultimately leading to his seeking and receiving political asylum in the US. Now an American citizen, Luis is dedicated to continuing to work alongside indigenous communities in overcoming and flourishing, despite difficult economic challenges and dangerous political encounters.
Mexican chefs on the US East Coast often have to make substitutions in their dishes because the unique, heirloom products are simply not available on the East Coast. By combining his experience in community-building within closed communities with his experience as a chef, Luis is leveraging a deep commitment to the roots of Mexican cuisine with the promotion of Mexican gastronomy on the US East Coast.
Moisés Díaz
Moisés is originally from San Martín Mexicapam, a neighborhood in Oaxaca de Juárez. Like many others in the city, his parents come from towns close to the capital.
Moises has worked as an elementary school teacher for a decade. He is proud of what he does because it has allowed him to work with indigenous communities, see their reality, and understand Mexico that doesn’t appear in the magazines or the big media channels. He is the third generation of his family in this field.
Since he was young, he has collaborated in social movements claiming access to better education and indigenous rights, especially in defense of Oaxaca’s cultural, natural, and spiritual diversity.
For Moisés, the cornfield and the Mexican countryside represent the essence of nature, which nourishes humanity and must continue to be preserved as the invaluable treasure that education and present generations must protect.
As a member of Tequio Foods, he feels the commitment to work to continue nurturing the cornfield as our ancestors did thousands of years ago.