As a Chicana growing up in Berkeley, Marisa Sanchez-Dunning witnessed all the ways Cinco de Mayo was warped and commodified by U.S. corporations looking to boost beer sales and college kids bellowing “Cinco de Drinko!” with little if any acknowledgement of the celebration’s origins.
Cinco de Mayo commemorates the defeat of the French in Puebla in 1862, and, in Mexico, the festivities are centered around the picturesque city a two-hour drive southeast of Mexico City.
“The holiday definitely feels a little appropriated, with people wearing mustaches and sombreros,” Sanchez-Dunning said. “It feels shitty. Why can’t we celebrate in a culturally appropriate, authentic way? It shouldn’t just be about tons of Corona and tacos.”
Sanchez-Dunning is the head of If Only Creative, and she works with many Bay Area restaurants. After throwing a successful Hispanic Heritage dinner event in September 2022, she decided to attempt a new style of Cinco de Mayo celebration dubbed El Otro Lado (The Other Side). The first one was held in 2023 and focused on the traditional foods from Puebla and the surrounding area.
On May 5 at Popoca, the second El Otro Lado dinner will be held, an evening of food, drink and art with a focus on the indigenous culinary traditions from Mexico and Central America.
Popoca head chef Anthony Salguero will be collaborating with Jacob Croom of My Friend Fernando on the meal.
“This year the inspiration for the five-course menu is centered around precolonial, indigenous solidarity,” Sanchez-Dunning said.
There will be specially curated cocktails made with Abasolo corn whiskey and Mixta Elote liquor. Additionally, everyone attending will receive a print from Oakland-based, Mexican-American painter Alex Sodari.
Salguero, whose father is from El Salvador, said he was excited about the idea when Sanchez-Dunning approached him, and he recruited Croom, whom he had collaborated with previously and who has roots on his mother’s side in Northern Mexico.
“I’m always excited to collaborate and do something fun, learn stuff, and be creative,” Salguero said.
Aztecs and Mayans ranged from central Mexico to northern Central America, and there are common threads through the indigenous cuisine of Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala.
“The Aztecs and Mayans shifted from Mexico to El Salvador and Guatemala to El Salvador,” Salguero said. “The language started to change over time and along with it different foods and techniques developed. It’s all connected.”
The two chefs have not finalized the menu yet, but there are some fundamentals that they agree on. The focus will be on using precolonial ingredients, so no pork will be served at the dinner. They will use the wood-fired grill at Popoca, and there will be fresh ground masa. Salguero is planning to use amaranth, a grain that was used widely by the Aztecs, but was outlawed by Spanish colonists as part of the efforts to control and subjugate the indigenous population.
Croom, who does supper clubs, pop-ups and ticketed dinners, said he plans to make a pumpkin seed salsa, another precolonial creation known as sikil p’ak.
“Marisa’s feelings on Cinco de Mayo align with mine,” Croom said. “Particularly among white Americans, how they approach the holiday is so cringe, so offensive. I’m happy to be part of any celebration that can take a big step away from that sort of stereotypical depiction. When we talked about the event, and the Battle of Puebla, we connected to fighting for independence, which goes back even further. It goes back to indigeneity and fighting for the land against all sorts of colonizers and occupation.”
Accordingly, 5% of the proceeds from the dinner will be donated to the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation’s continued legal battle for federal recognition.
“Indigenous peoples are in a fight for support and we want to give back and honor those whose land it is,” Sanchez-Dunning said. “The land of the Southern Sierra Miwuk is where Yosemite National Park is now.”
Sanchez-Dunning says she plans to make El Otro Lado an annual event, mixing up the partners, theme, and cuisine a little bit each year to keep things fresh.
“I think it’s going to be amazing,” Sanchez-Dunning said. “It will be a good night to connect. There’s a lot of excitement around it and I feel like we’re giving life to a stale holiday.”
El Otro Lado has sold out for this year, but look out for more events from Sanchez-Dunning and the return of El Otro Lado in 2025.
