Elsa Chan grew up in Cansahcab,Yucatan, a town an hour or so outside of the city of Mérida. She learned to cook from her grandmother, a traditional cook who prepared enormous meals for local town festivals and weddings. Elsa used to accompany her grandmother to these events and watch how she prepared the dishes from beginning to end, toasting the peppers, grinding them on the metate, grinding stone. 

They cook cochinita pibil underground. “Buried underground it turns out much better, the firewood and earth give it a different flavor.”

Elsa grew up speaking Maya with her mother and grandmother. Her grandmother would always tell her in Maya, “Come here, come and learn what I am doing. Those are the most beautiful memories I have with my mother and grandmother.” Her family would throw giant get-togethers where they would eat and drink. It is during these gatherings that she would watch her grandmother cook and learn how to make her traditional Yucatecan dishes. 

Elsa immigrated to Los Angeles in 1986 with her ex-husband. She came to make money to send home. She grew up in a hut with a leaky roof and slept in a hammock with her siblings.  “I had to help my siblings and my mother. I didn’t like to see her suffer.” 

Elsa suffered from domestic violence from her husband when her children were young and left him. She had to work multiple jobs to survive– as a security officer overnight and other jobs. Eventually, she worked as a caterer for well known boxers. For the past few years, she has worked giving massages and spends most of her time helping to raise her grandchildren. She has sent her earnings home to build a house in her town for the past few years. She loves to cook Yucatecan cuisine for her grandchildren and dreams of being able to return and live there full-time.