The Story of Mexican Cuisine in California

In California, Mexican cuisine has always been intertwined with California’s winemakers, so it is only natural that a cookbook on modern Mexican cuisine would come out of wine country. The story begins more than 240 years ago when Father Junípero Serra, a Franciscan missionary, brought settlers from Mexico to establish Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first mission in Alta California. They soon planted what would later be recognized as the first vineyard in California, the harvest of which was used for communion wine. As immigrants have always done, these Mexican newcomers carried their techniques, flavors, and even their cooking tools north with them.