From Kitchen to Community: How a Guatemalan cooking class supports local women

“You’re a rebel girl. You’re a black sheep.”

 Those are the words Anita heard from her family since she was a girl. Growing up in the small Guatemalan village of San Pedro La Laguna, Anita was expected to become a wife and a mother. However, from a young age, she longed for a different path. At age 8, Anita started making money by selling bananas to tourists. She also used the opportunity to learn English. Fast forward to present day, Anita is the owner of Mayan Kitchen Cooking, which offers hands-on cooking classes in which participants make an authentic Guatemalan meal. 

I took Anita’s cooking class on my second day in Guatemala, after arriving in the picturesque area of Lake Atitlan. Our group of about twelve people met near San Pedro’s dock in the morning. There we met Anita who welcomed us warmly and helped us choose dishes to make from her extensive menu. We decided on a traditional stew called pepian, which is made with a blend of vegetables, spices, pumpkin seeds and chicken. We also decided to make a side of tamalitos de chipilin, mini tamales with a green vegetable similar to spinach. For dessert, we decided on bunuelos rapidos.

For the first part of the day, we set out to a local market to buy fresh produce and meat. Many Guatemalans in the area do not own refrigerators, so a daily trip to the market is a must. Anita guided us through the many stalls, pointing out different fruits and vegetables. As we walked, many of the local people greeted her warmly. After spending about an hour walking through the market and picking out ingredients, we headed down the road to Anita’s home.

On the second floor she has a large airy room for a kitchen, with sweeping views of Lake Atitlan. Once we arrived, she put us to work, chopping and preparing the various dishes. We had a snack break in the middle of class to try out various kinds of local fruits, including three kinds of mangos (each with their own unique taste), various kinds of bananas and a long green pod fruit called guama. 

After the flurry of activity from cooking was over, Anita started answering our group’s questions. She invited us to ask her anything–including Guatemalan culture, clothing, music and even her own personal story. 

Anita chose an unusual path for someone of her background, and although she has found great success, it also came with hardships. She spoke about her marriage, one that she thought was out of love, but eventually became physically and verbally abusive. However, when she sought out her mom’s help during the abuse, her mom turned it around on Anita, saying that if she was a better wife, this wouldn’t be happening to her. When Anita gained the courage to leave her husband and return to her childhood home, she was treated with disdain as a single mother. Despite the challenges, Anita persisted. She was hired as a tour guide, a job traditionally reserved for men, by an American company.

One of her clients requested a cooking class, and although the company didn’t formally offer one, Anita thought she could help out. Initially she was just going to cook for the woman, but her client wanted to help. After the class, the client left a glowing review in a notebook that other people eventually saw. Then they started asking Anita to book classes with her. From that, Mayan Kitchen Cooking was born. 

It’s been a decade since Anita started her own business, and since then, she has become a pillar of the community. She hired 27 women, all single mothers, to work with her. She also runs La Cooperativa, a collective of local women weavers. They sell woven goods handmade by women in Atitlan and offer classes for visitors to weave their own scarves. 

As a first-time traveler in Guatemala who speaks only a little bit of Spanish, talking with Anita was truly eye-opening. She spoke honestly and openly about the constricting roles for women in Guatemalan society. She also shared the road that led her to becoming an entrepreneur, a rare and unusual path for a Guatemalan woman.

Learn more about Anita and her cooking class.