Albóndigas en Chipotle w/ Cecilia Cassandra Peña-Govea, aka La Doña

Host Bryan Ford is joined by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Cecilia Peña-Govea, AKA La Doña. Born in San Francisco, California, La Doña combines her deep roots in Latin folk traditions, like corridos and rumba, with the propulsive modern sounds of reggaeton, cumbia, and hip hop. La Doña coined the term “Femmeton” to describe her auto-referential songs about love, sex, gentrification, and the radical joys of being a queer brown woman in the Bay Area. Her song, “Quién Me La Paga'' was the first of the New York Times Magazine’s “19 Songs that Matter Now,” for 2020, and her EP, Algo Nuevo, was selected by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the 6 best albums of 2020. She recently embarked on her own headline run in November 2022, and she has performed at ACL, Lollapalooza, and Format Fest. 

In addition to her many altruistic, academic, and musical accolades, Cecilia is also a cook. Bryan swaps notes with her on the best way to prepare Albóndigas en Chipotle, a type of Mexican meatball.

Watch Bryan make his version and Subscribe: Youtube

Recipe from today's episode can be found at Shondaland.com

Join The Flaky Biscuit Community: Discord 

La Doña IG: ladona415

Bryan Ford IG: @artisanbryan

Check out Cuicacali Escuela Cultural at cuicacallisf.com and Mission Meals at missionmealscoalition.org.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Flaky Biscuit is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio. Welcome to Flaky Biscuit, where Hm, I'm especially
hungry this time. Each episode we are cooking up delicious
morsels of nostalgia, meals and recipes that have comforted and

(00:20):
guided our guests to success. That means each episode, Oh,
jumping the gun. Each episode, I'm creating a recipe from scratch,
all right. I am researching, learning, talking to friends, colleagues, etc. Etc. Grandmother's, mothers,
and trying to figure something out. So I'm Brian Ford.
By the way, I write cookbooks, have TV shows. I
think what we're doing today is extremely special for a

(00:42):
variety of reasons. Someone very, very exciting and amazing is
in the kitchen in her home city of San Francisco.
A solo artist that mixes Caribbean rhythms, regghetto and hip
hop styles and what I'm saying Mexican American composing songs
that explore radical Latina femininity, femininity say that ten times
in a row, inspired by themes such as love, sexuality, pain,

(01:04):
and weather catastrophes. Singer songwriter, Wow, multi instrumentalist you became
a professional trumpeter playing in your family's ensemble, where you
were eventually dominating instruments such as a guitar percussion. I mean,
you do it all. Please welcome to Flaky Biscuit today,
Cecilia Fenagovia aka Ladonia.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Which thank you for having me. I'm stuck to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Oh man, wow, wow wow, big fan, big fan, having
a little fanboy moment. I was here last summer. My
older sister was staying with me and helping me photograph
my cookbook. And one day in the kitchen, she's like, Brian,
check this music out. Her name is Ladonia and I
love her. That's exactly what my sister said, and so
we put this song on. We were just like making sandwiches.

(01:50):
I started vib and I was like, damn, And your
music kind of became the theme of our cookbook photo shoot.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh my god, that's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Not even kidding, not even kidding, that's lit.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
I love that. I'm gonna go Malona. So I'm always
like so happy. When I was like, oh, I cooked
your music, I'm like, yes, that's what you should be
doing exactly.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah. I mean, honestly, it's very very special. My friend
who owns a bakery in Long Beach, listens to your
music on his playlist as well. I just did a
pop up there and Latonia came up, and he has
a pastry call Ladonia. I'm pretty sure it's not named
after him.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Hey, I'm gonna go try it and then we can
see if.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
So how are you? How are you today? Well?

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Today is a crazy day because two of my friends
got married yesterday, and on top of that, all of
my friends from college were in town. So this is
the first time in like ten years that I'm seeing everybody.
Well I'm not I'm really not at all, but the
first time I'm in like at least five years and
I'm saying everybody together. So it was wild. And then
today is a big day too because you know, I

(02:52):
just broke up with my boyfriend and he moves out today. Whoa,
I'm like in the middle of a very crazy moment life.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
But are we celebrating? Are we sad?

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Or every day's a little party? You know, like whether
you're crying, whether you're happy. Is it's a movement, there's
it's change, It's good change. There's always a reason to celebrate.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Cheers to that. Cheers to that are you already writing
a song about this in your head? How does that work?

Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know what I mean? Usually I'm a huge shit talker,
and I'll like be writing every fightly and that's why
you're fucking ugly and all that shit. But no, this time,
I'm actually feeling a little bit private. I mean, obviously
not that private.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
If I'm if you're just going for the jugular fuck.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
It, but no, no, I mean I've been feeling a
little tender about it, so I don't even know what
I want to say. You know. I think it's because
I don't really know how I feel about it. So
we'll see though. I mean, that's why I was like,
you're gonna write some great music. I'm like, how about
you fuck off and go do your own songwriting and
I'll be sad over here and they're like, just start writing.
I'm like, I'm sad, yeah, because that's how it works, right,

(03:57):
They're all excited.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
I'm like, just start writing already. You want to hear
the next album about this already?

Speaker 2 (04:03):
So out of bucket?

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, listen, thank you for sharing that. Scenarios come, scenarios go,
you see them in good spirits. I would if I
was at a wedding with all of my college friends.
I probably would have canceled this.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
No, no, no, I scheduled it so that I could.
I mean, already I was at the family family lunch
at eleven am.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
So, oh, man, you what y'all have?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
My sister made this scrunched cabbage salad with toasted sesame
seeds and almonds, and it was just really yummy. And
you know, I grew up vegetarian, so it's pretty much
like this kind of solad. That kind of solad, that
kind of solad and a boiled egg, some chips, you know.
But it's a lot of salad zones in our together.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, but you're getting all the nutrients there, protein from
the boiled eggs, yeah, a couple of different greens. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
And the thing is is that, you know, it's really
crazy is that we all, my sister, my mom, and
I we always cook the same dish on the same day.
Really like almost every week. I'll say, like twice a week,
I'll be like, oh, you know what I made yesterday?
I made air my solid and my sister's like, I
made air my salad yesterday, and I'm am was like,
I just got air maide to make it tonight, and
we're like.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Okay, y'all have like a sinker nice.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
I mean obviously like seasonal, like that makes sense for
certain things, but it'll be just like off the wall.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Wow. So food's clearly important to you. Because you sent
us three different options for your nostalgic meal. I'm assuming
each of them has a different memory your story associated
with it.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
I honestly don't remember what. Yes, probably all right, you
know what.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
We're going to jump into what I cooked for you
today because I'm sure, I'm sure you're dying. And so
when we spoke, when we communicated, your response and I quote,
you're like, what did I say? You said, I'd say
either and chiladas rojas with beans and rice and salad,
or chilailis or albondigas and Chipotle.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, I know what you made.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
Okay, tell our listeners what I made and why you so?
So for reference, she walked in and she's sitting by
a microphone and has not been able to see anything,
but yeah, tell us what you think I made.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
I think you made ding ding ding.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
That is what I mean. That is what I made.
I just had to reach backwards to lower the heat
on the stove though, because I'm.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Like, yeah, it's like trying to jump into my mouth,
so really exciting.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
How do you know? So is it because of what
you're smelling? Yeah, well describe what you're smelling.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well, definitely. When I came into the house, we're in
like this very pristine, like white woman decorated zone. You know,
it's like gorgeous, like it's insane. The macro may that
went into this design work is like off the wall.
But I'm getting like so much, like so much of
that kind of I mean, this is in the best way,

(06:53):
but you know when you cook meat balls and it
kind of smells like a foot a little bit and
you're like yeah, yeah like that, like you're like, that's
molle good. So that's what I was getting. The smokiness
of the chipole and a little bit of that you know,
funky bata. But oh, I know that's smell anywhere.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
So talk to me about what this meal means to you.
I mean, where were you when you first had it?
Who made it for you? Do you know how to
make it? Like, give me, give me a load down.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah yeah, So al this is a dish that my
grandma used to make. So my grandma, Margaret La Rosagovea,
she grew up in Porterville and you know, raised her
family in Bakersfield, and she was the matriarch of the family.
She cooked, you know, she had five kids and a
lot of other family members living with her, and every
day she would make fresh sartias for every meal, and

(07:43):
she'd cook for the whole family, and it was like,
you know, she held it down. And she would also
tell me about when she was growing up. She had
a bunch of siblings, but her job was to make
the salsa, and so she by the time I knew her,
she didn't have any tastebuds left. She had burnt out
all of her taste buds. So she'd like put food
down and we'd be like, yeah, no, no, Usually she

(08:06):
was on, but sometimes you're like, what the fuck, girl,
I cannot eat this is so Biganta like, what the heck?
But no, she was a brilliant cook. She cooked for
decades and decades and taught all of us in the
family how to cook. You know, the summers that we'd
spend in Bakersfield with her, and it was a really
special table because it was there on Oa Street in
Bakersfield that Caesar Travis had some of the first Caesar

(08:28):
Travis and Fred Ross Senior had some of the first
CSO community service organization meetings in Bakersfield that preceded the
UfW and were the basis for all the organizing around
the Great boycotts and all the different actions, direct actions,
strikes and boycotts that the United farm Workers embarked on
and did. And so you know, Mithas were greatly involved

(08:50):
in that movement. And it all started around my grandma's table.
So everything that I learned in her kitchen, everything I
learned at her table, I hold very very close to
my heart and to my own to keep it real,
Like I love to party, like I have people over
at least a couple nights a week to just like
feed them and like them. And so I think it's

(09:12):
definitely it's inherited from that kind of vibe of just
like getting together around the table and strengthening relationships and
showing care and love. So that as I learned from
my grandma and then my Tiakata would always make them,
and now I make them too for the families.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Oh man, oh so you so you be making them
My first time it's so to kind of backtrack though,
it sounds like this meal not just has personal nostalogiya
attached to it, but there's also some historical context there
in terms of just how you think about food. So
I think that's I'm kind of like, damn, like you
kind of brought it to another level.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
I mean, it's serious. It's very serious for me. I
think that, like, I don't really do anything if I'm like, oh,
this is cool, it's like it has to mean something
or else. I'm like, I'm too busy. I can't think
about it. I can't do it. But no food for me,
it's huge.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
You know, yeah, it is. I mean, look, before I
serve you and feed you, Okay, there's a couple of
things that need to go down. Number one, I need
to know some specifics because you know how to make it.
So I guess off the bat, do you consider it
just to be a meatball? Do you like to refer
to it as like, oh, it's a meatball, Like if
somebody pass you on the street, like an American, like, hey,

(10:25):
what are those album bingos? Would you say like, well,
it's just a meatball, or like.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
No, no, no, no, no, baby, no no, I mean,
I couldn't, you know, because I would say it's not
just any old meatball, especially it being a cheap ball,
because there's a lot of different ways that Latinos make alondillas,
like even Mexicans, like they'll do it in broth and
they'll do it like I don't know, there's a lot
of different ways people be on their own thing. But
and she pa, I feel like it's very specific. It's

(10:52):
not a soup really, but it's not like a sauce really,
but it's not I mean, I don't know. I would
have to break down like exactly what's going to happen,
because the way I make it, there are a few
surprises inside of Okay.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
First of all, you can't be me and teasing listeners
with surprise it, So go ahead, break break it down.
I'm all ears, I need to know.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
When I make my al there's a couple of things
that I like to do to make it like extra exciting.
The first of which is that I boil hard boiled eggs,
all hard boil some eggs, and then cut them into
sixteen right or eight, I don't know, into little manageable pieces,
and then I wrap I wrap the meat around it,

(11:36):
so once you cut into it, it's like, oh my gosh,
is it Easter? Or like is my cook OCD? And
I'm saying like it's always that fun question in my house.
And I also like to use the oregano from the garden,
which is you know, it's pretty strong, but it brings
like a different depths to it. So I think the

(11:57):
egg is there is the star Like, no, no, I'm
not gonna I'm not gonna be mad if there's no
egg because my Thea's honestly, my theias make it without
the egg, right, So I just put the egg in
it so that I can be like, see, I'm not
a piece of shit. You guys like, I'm I'm really
trying here. You know, I'm the youngest grandchild. Everyone's like,
oh yeah, you're yeah, okay. I'm like, no, I'm really trying.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
So I'm kicking myself right now because I'm just if
you open the fridge door, you'll see so many eggs.
I talked to a couple of friends read a bunch
of stuff online, and it seemed like you could do
either egg or cheese.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
Oh what cheese cheese.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Inside instead of the boiled egg cheese and so I
know you don't eat a lot of meat, or I didn't.
I was like, maybe the egg would be overkilled because
I know. But now I'm like, damn, man, I should know.
I was about to put that egg in there.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
I've never had it with cheese.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
So now you never had it with cheese, which now
I'm like, I did the complete.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
That's perfect eggs next time. You know what I'm gonna
do next time, because I do have some ovo what
are they called when they can't you eggs?

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Oh, there's a name for them.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Freaks, freakygys, freak, all the freakings out there that people
who can't eat.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
I'm googling this right now, eat eggs.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
No, but it's good to have an alternative, It's what
I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
So I'm excited to all right, So next time you
have your people over eight times a week to party, yes,
you can make some with all right. So I'll quickly
break down for you exactly what I did and then
we'll get to taste it. It's the first time I
ever made it. I'm I'm not Mexican, so my mom
does know how to mix out size. It's not exactly
how Mexic people make.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Vinegary No, whoa what?

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Well, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
When I go to other countries, they always give me
like chila and vinegar, and then I'm like, no.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
That would be that would be like a cardillo probably
yes to my listeners out there, and cortillo cardio in
Central America. It's a way to kind of pickle cabbage
or peppers or sometimes even beat beats and you kind
of add that acidity carrots. Yes to different dishes. But no,
the salsa my mom makes is not vinegary. So people

(14:12):
have given you vinegar, you sauces like legitimately.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
Listen when I go to the island sometimes, like when
I've been to Kuban, when I've been to Puerto Rico,
I'm like, hey, do you have salsan and like salsa? Yeah, sure, whatever,
And I'm like, no, like a littleepka, like something spicy,
and they're like oh yeah, and they give me like
chile in vinegar. Oh, and I'm like okay, yeah. But

(14:37):
I'm also like, you know, a little my Mexican.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Tea, the little tear drop happens. Yeah, we should get
a little meme or her with like a tear drought
coming down no. So my mom used to do essentially
what I did, but I added a couple of different
dried chiless to it or rehydrated. She would roast tomatoes, onions,
bell peppers, so the bell peppers I excluded, okay, and
she would blend that up with salt, add some cayenne

(15:01):
or something to it. So that's how my mom would
me and my if you listening, and I just messed
that up, my bad. My mom sometimes be like stalking
my work and like, but I don't do that. Whatever
she's like said.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Exactly, and also to maybe sometimes you do put the eggs.
I haven't had it, so I'm not saying you never.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
You gotta cover. You gotta yo yo, cover your own
ass out here in case somebody listening. All right, So
I pulled up in here. We had an hour to prep.
So I got some onions from the tienda, I got
some tomatoes, and I got the chi list. I got
some chipota, and I got what is it? Yeah, how

(15:46):
did you say it? But I went to get the meat.
So Bridgie was like, all right, she doesn't eat much meat.
She might be particular about the type of meat. So
I went to what I think is a very historic.
It seemed like a very reputable around here.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
All right.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
I was like, you probably might appreciate, you know, they grinded.
It was grinding the meat for well.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
What I love about is that I'm pretty sure this
is the spot. If I made a mistake, I will,
you know, renounce my Cleane of the mission card. But
on their facade they have a mural. It's thet is
a pig and he is butchering another pig and both
of the pig heads are like really happy and smiling.

(16:31):
So I love that mural so much. Now, Like I'm like,
I I die for that mural. I'm like I always
post it with my acab propaganda and I'm super about it.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
After this, we should always go to that mural and
take a selfie. Yeah. So I don't remember seeing that,
but maybe I just I was in this, like I
was in this frenzy to get this meat and get.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah yeah, come on the meat frenzy.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
Meat mania. So I made hydrated the chi list, I
blended all together, the onions and tomatoes, some a little
bit of salt. I got some cardore beef bon added
it to that salza for the meatballs. And I like
to kind of get technical fumborium.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
No, no, I'm curious.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
So I only had dried oregano, didn't have a robust
garden with some of the best Mexican oregano around or
anything like that. But I'd be like that, a little
bit of bread, some egg. I don't know if you
do the whole soaking the bread and milk things.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
Well, I do that for certain recipes, but for this one,
I put actually rice instead of bread.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
Yeah, it's like kind of my pocha like kind of
more got you. Oh, but you know what I do
is I put well, no, you tell me, you told me,
and then I'll tell you.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
So I'm almost done. So yeah, So basically I took
this ground meat, added the oregano, some salt, some bread crumbs,
a couple of eggs typical meatball stuff, a little bit
of garlic. Also, I mixed that up, and then I
stuffed the hot cheese. So like basically what you do
with the egg. I just like stuffed the hot cheese
in it.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Damn like a chunk of it or like a big chunk.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
So I don't know what's going on in that pot
right now. It's floating out.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
No, it probably made the caado like really creamy thick,
because you know, some of it kind.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
Of like, yeah, it'll tell, which means to escape.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
It escapes. It's meat.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
We're hearing the meat carsel. We A're gonna play with them,
all right, So wait, what were you about to say?

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Okay, okay, so mine be getting a little bit different.
You know, I've also I've anglicized it in certain ways
because you know my my boyfriend egg boyfriend, Yeah no,
so he always had it with rice growing up. So
I'm like, okay, rice is actually really cool. I'm I'm
with it, like I don't need a million eggs or breadcrumbs.

(18:55):
I'm you know, if I can diversify my grains a
little bit, I'll do it. So I'll do the meat
all half park have beef, and I'll mix it with
my spices. I do comino, salt, pepper, some other shit. Honestly,
I'll do like a I put whatever the fuck, I
put a little bit of white rice, and then I

(19:17):
put chopped zucchini because my grandma would always make it
with zucchini and that was kind of what held it
together for her, which you know, is very different than
using a grain based thickener or like an agent to
tie together. I don't know how it would work. You know, zucchini,
it does, it does. It releases a lot of moisture,
It changes size, you know. I was always like, does

(19:39):
that work? But it really does. No, no, no, I'll
just chop it like in quarters, like very little.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
And then so you know, mix all that up and
then wrap it around the egg. And then the salsa.
It's just chipotlet, tomato gado whatever.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
I have one. Yeah, yeah, but.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
You fry it. So you gotta fry it a little bit.
You boil all the stuff that you're gonna do, right,
You soak the chilis, roast the tomatoes, blend it with
yah yaho, and then fry it a little bit and
then throw the meatballs in there.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
Damn, let's eat. Let's eat. Hungry for more Flaky Biscuit,
stay tuned, Welcome back to Flaky Biscuit. So I'm gonna

(20:45):
plate this up for you, and I want to remind
you here at Flaky business real. Just tell me what
you taste and smell.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Oh, I know it's gonna be good. I had I know.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
I know. One second.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
One second, Oh, look at that dang look at that.
I think a spoon is good. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
Wow, you're welcome.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
So feel free to either make observations or just start eating.
It's up to you.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Really, I observe with my mouth.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
While you're eating. They've been cooking for about an hour
and a half ish. Maybe the cheese looks kind of
cool in there. It's not the surprise egg, but.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Hey, listen, surprise cheese is just as good as a
surprise egg. Oh whoa. Okay, So the Gothia Gottia famously
like is so bitchy about melting, like it will just
put up a fight. But from being in the broth
for so long, it really has like done it did something.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, it did some things. Mm hmm okay, mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
This is delicious. Okay, this is wonderful. I love this
all right.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
This does staste pretty good. But I don't have a
barometer for success, so.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
I would say successful successful. I would say one hundred
percent successful.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
One hundred percent successful.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, this is this is definitely chole.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah you got it. Okay, but I want to know
your deep thoughts. I want to know the real, the
real deal thoughts about everything.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Well, you know, you got the right, bitch, because hmmm,
I actually am a food columnist. So I'm loving the
size of these old ones.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
Guts.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
They're super big, right, like everybody talks about when they're
making mats of ball soup or whatever, like the size
of the ball really do be varin And so I
love how big this is. I think it's really exciting,
especially because you're seeing a little bit of stripes or
a little bit of seepage of the cheese, so you're like,
what is happening here? Does bring a lot of salt?

(23:01):
Colthia has one of the salty your cheeses, so does
bring a lot of salt, Which is why I love
how big sol the sauce is. It's delivering that one too, right,
just like it's a bang. The beef it's I mean,
it's beef in right. Usually mine are a little pink
because I'd be having the I'll use pork, but the

(23:23):
solved very tender. I only cook it for about forty
five minutes.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
Okay, but do you like it a little a little more?
So this might be a little a little more.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
No, No, I'm not finding that at all, and it might
be from the fat from the cheese. I don't know
what it is. I think maybe when you use egg
you have to be really careful about not overcooking the
eggs so you don't get like that rubbery. But here
you don't obviously don't have that problem. So beautiful score there.
Meat is tender, delicious. What is really coming out for
me in the sauce is the you said, use wahio

(23:55):
on right chih Yeah, it's lending so much more depth.
Usually chipotlet, I'm like, it's in cheapolet. I rarely use chipotlet,
so that's the only chili that I will use, right, Sure,
I'll put salts on top of it. Usually I work
with seta or halop, and you're depending on how spite
through the helop anyways. But with the wahuo in here,
it's very special to me because I make my Achila

(24:16):
la sauce with waquo and ancheon as well, but to
have it in Albondigas is like, so, I mean, it's
so delicious, It's so dark and round, and it really
does cut a little bit the smoke of the chipotle.
I love it.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
I am on Cloud nine and as they say, so
for my listeners, I do have to point out the
fact that you know Picoso, by the way, means like spicy.
She likes her food very spicy. And I saw you
kind of wipe away a tear or something or I
don't know, my nose is running. Nose is running, so
I think spice levels on point. Just to be one
hundred percent clear. Though, where are you right now? Have

(24:57):
you been brought back anywhere? Is this dish bringing you somewhere?

Speaker 2 (25:00):
And if so, Rare, I was bringing me back to
the first time after my grandma passed that I had.
I was onely gus again.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
I was at my Theel's house. My dad got the
headmade them and I was like, wait, what is this?
And she was like, oh, I was wonder you Guss.
You don't make out lonely Gus And I was like,
deep shame, no, I don't. But it had been maybe
about four years since my grandma's passing, and in her
later years she hadn't been cooking as much. So it
just was a very like the dish stopped me dead

(25:30):
in my tracks. I was just like, oh my god,
it's so fucking good. It's everything that I love. It's saucy,
it's spicy, like it doesn't rely on. I have a
pet peeve of things that rely on bread or rice
or like whatever. I'm like, bro, get to the fucking point, like,
stop pucking around. So this dish it just like it
did stop me. So it's taken me back to that

(25:54):
moment when I had to like kind of very casually ada,
how she maade it? You know, because it's like very nice.
See in my family, You're not like, holy shit, that's crazy.
How'd you do it? You're like, m so did you
use oh, okay, And then when you did that okay, O.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
Cool casual question.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
Don't admit that you don't know shit. So I'm there
in that moment. Wow, it's really it's really cozy and
fun and exciting.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
That's amazing. I'm really happy that I was able to,
you know, help you or allow you to think about moments.
Those moments are very important. I mean, at the end
of the day, I'll never be able to cook like
your grandma. I'll never be able to cook like you
the way you probably make this. But I love having
conversations with people when they think about these distant memories.
And again, for the listeners, she's taking multiple more bites.

(26:40):
More bites are being had. The plate is in her hand.
She does seem very heavy. So you're happy I'll have you. Well, hey,
but hold up a second. Let's just be real. You're
not a chef. You're a musician. You are You're like
one of the most amazing trumpet players in the country probably,
but you're out here talking. You've got you know, you

(27:00):
went to culinary school, so what you've been doing has
been so inspirational. So we talked about hw I just
got to know your music about a year ago. Talk
to me about how you know you grew up in
a family band. I mean, how did you get from
point A to point B? Really?

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, I mean there's been a lot of twists and turns.
You know, my birthday, my thirtieth birthday is next week.
So I'm right. So I'm like in this and obviously
I'm in crisis kind of but like.

Speaker 5 (27:28):
And obviously it's like it's not I'm in crisis and
it's totally fine.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
I know, I was at the bar last night for
the fucking after party and my friend comes up to
me and they're like a licensed therapist now bah blah
blah whatever, like social worker, and they were like, I
can tell you're really going through it right now, like
must be really hard. You don't have to pretend that
you're okay. I was like, can you give me one
moment to be okay? Like I'm at the bar after

(27:54):
the wedding, like I'm having fun. Can I just be okay?
And they were like, you don't have to. I was like,
I'm outside, bruh. So anyways, no, no, no, So I'm I'm
not pretending right now. I'm in a moment of reflection
and I do recognize that my life has had a
lot of twists and turns. But yeah, I grew up
playing music with my family band in this neighborhood, you know,

(28:16):
San Franos was very small, so playing all around the city,
all around the Bay area. We played a lot of
regional Mexican music, Colombian music, salsa meeting, like a lot
of different types of Latin next musics, and I kind
of overdosed on it. I was like playing professionally since
I was seven years old, you know, went to performing

(28:38):
arts high school. I was in like six bands, still
playing with my family band, and it was it's a lot,
you know, to have that kind of focus and that
kind of pressure not pressure necessarily, but an expectation of
you at such a young age is pretty intense. So
by the time I was like seventeen, I was like,
I don't want to do it anymore. I'm gonna go

(28:58):
drink beer on the street, eat and smoke a blunt
like a hood rat, and just like I can't do
this shit anymore. Like I have been the star, you know,
I've like I've been holding it down, but I can't
do it. So I took a little break, and in
college I actually studied community studies in Latin American Latino
studies with a focus in public art and actually agradecology

(29:23):
like food and community and permaculture and farming and wow,
you know, just thinking about food systems and all of
the layers of where food comes from, our relationship with
the land, how markets are shaped, how recipes are translated
and shared, and all of it. You know, it's very

(29:43):
very interesting to me, very intriguing, and you know, community
organizing and different aspects of being active direct action.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Right.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
And I graduated school after like three years. I graduated early.
I went to U see Santa Cruz, and I was like,
oh my god, I get the fuck I hear, I
can't do the white dreads anymore. Like I love this,
I love learning, but I can't do the white dreads
and the toad shoes.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
I gotta go.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
So I came back here, and after having some time
away from music, I was like so ready to go
back to it. I just hit the ground running and
started writing my own music. Started with LA the music
I put out, I was like, I never want to
perform it, Like this to me is like really cool.
I hope people like it. It's something that I do for myself,

(30:29):
but I don't want to perform it, nor do I
want to like really engage with it that much. Just like,
let me do my thing and I'll do it right.
And then I started getting gigs. I'm like a hustler.
I cannot say no. I was yeah, was like can
you play this? And you played that and I was like, oh,
I don't want to, but of course yeah, yeah, you
don't want yea yeah, like I am booked, like I'm busy.

(30:54):
I'm booked and busy. That's like my natural state. It
has grown a lot, I think based on my privilege
of being in such close proximity with other creators and
other artists and community workers and my family of course.
Like just being able to collaborate with people in such
a safe, brave and intentional way has kept me excited

(31:17):
about the project, has kept me feeling like there's integrity
to the project, which is really all I need to. Like,
we just want to do it, you know, like actually
feel good about doing it and actually like wanting to
see it in different ways, right, in different mediums, different spaces,
different iterations.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, you're very confident with what you do, right, I
mean it's like you embody the Ladonia. Okay, where did
Ladonia this name come from? And like do you feel
like you are Ladonia or is it separate?

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Well, I'm laughing because last night, like, so this name
came about when I was in college, I lived in
a lot of cooperative housing, so like ten to fifteen
people in the same house, teen agers like trying to
run their shit. Yeah, like four hour cooperative meetings on

(32:10):
every Sunday, you know, so shit like that. And they
began calling me Lagna because I know, yeah, they began
calling me Donia because I was like, has everybody eaten?
Who did the dishes last? Whose milk is this in
the fridge? It's passed, you know, just like shit where
you when you grow up with a certain level of
responsibility and attention to detail, You're like, what are these

(32:32):
kiss Like? Go on? Why are people not like getting
it together? But also like donia in a fun way
too of like okay, I mean if they're a party,
you guys want to have a party, like, let's do
something cool. So they started calling me that in college
and I was laughing because last night it was totally

(32:53):
I mean I was thrown right back into it.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
You know.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
I was like, hey, have you drink water? Let me
get you some water? Do you need to do this?
Did you bring an extra pair of shoes? Where's your bag?
Do you have your bath?

Speaker 1 (33:03):
Like?

Speaker 2 (33:04):
I was thrown right back into it, and that's where
it came from. It's taken a little bit of a
life of its own, but none of it's new. Like
I have been the exact same person since I was
a little like two years old.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
You know, yeah, you you you wanted a real ones.
You ain't trying to be you know what I'm saying,
Like it is what it is. I've been listening to
your music, You've been learning a lot about you and
a word that's come up a lot is femoton So
I don't want to explain what femtone is. I would
love to hear how you feel your music has kind

(33:36):
of embodied what femotone is or what you know what
I mean, Like, what exactly does that mean? And how
did you get to the point where that was a
part of your repertoire.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
I grew up out here and like our main types
of music that we listened to was regaton and hyphie music.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
So yeah, sorry, I just raised my hand, so I
didn't want to talk over you. What is hiphi?

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Hiphie?

Speaker 1 (34:01):
You say it in your songs all the time, and
I'm like, yeah, hi, yeah, yeah, But I'm like, I'm like,
wait a second, I don't know what that means. So
what is hype?

Speaker 2 (34:11):
So hyphie is a style of hip hop that originated
in Oakland Vallejo, SF. Some of the main figures in
hyphear Macdre, Too Short E forty, all of these like
circa early nineties to like two thousand and tens hip
hop artists thank you, originated this style. Honestly, the hype

(34:34):
movement was like, it's very based in I mean, if
you really want to know. It's very contested history, has
a very frat history. It comes out of the crack
epidemic in Oakland and in the Bay Area, that generation
of babies born to people crack users, and they started

(34:57):
a movement of music, of culture, of dance, of community
around like this very wild, unhinged ass fun status of
being together. Right, Like, there's high fee dances, there's hyphee music,
there's high fee clothing, there's high fee drinks, there's high

(35:17):
fee it's a vibe. I came up like at the
tail end of the Hyphee movement, Like, I don't know
who's listening to this. I can't really say always to do,
but lots of drugs, lots of fun, lots of partying,
lots of talties, lots of debauchery. It was a great
moment in time, and I'm so proud of those of

(35:40):
us that survive the Hyphee movement.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
Anyway, that was a detour feminon yaemon, right, So Regaton, Regaton.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
And hyphie music. A lot of it was very misogynistic,
very sexist, using a lot of language and promoting still
and still is promoting a lot of just like some
fucked up ship, right, just like watting a lot of
violence against women, a lot of a lot of ableism,
a lot of racism, anti black sentiments among other Latinos

(36:08):
or other people creating this type of music. It's problematic
in certain ways, which you grapple with when you're connecting
with something cultural. Right, all of us have those, I'm
sure even in recipes. I'm sure like with the types
of music we listen to. Myself coming up playing regional
Mexican music, it's all about like, oh my girl cheated
on me, so I hunted her and her lover down

(36:30):
and killed them, and now like do do do? And
you're like, yeah, okay, yeah, Like there's a lot of
these stories that are told and retold and accepted, and
I kind of felt like being intentional about the way
that I would subvert that, so like definitely wanting to
pay homage to and recognize and honor the roots, musicological roots,

(36:55):
and ethnographic roots of these music, these dice aphrod ice
Berg musics, right, but also by being like, we don't
have to be singing along to shit that is talking
down on this, you know. So yeah, that's mostly what
I mean was when I say femoton is just like
it's music for us to tell our stories, either female, femme,

(37:17):
non binary queer stories, stories of if you have felt
disenfranchised or alienated from the music that you listen to
as a young person, then maybe you will find some
comfort in this music.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
Wow, that was very, very beautiful the way you explain that,
And I think, yeah, I think there's a lot of
things unpacked from that. Obviously. I listened to reggaeton growing up.
I listened to rap and hip hop growing up, and
as a man, I'll listen. I listen to cash Money Millionaires.
I'm for New Orleans. Oh, I'm for New Orleans.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
I love New Orleans is my second favorite city as
a man.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Thirty four now, right, but then I'll hear a cash
money song that I used to listen to when I
was twelve, right right when I was.

Speaker 4 (38:04):
Singing the world singing it. It was your ringtone and
I knew every lyric. Yeah, and I listened to an Now,
how was that okay? That I was hearing this?

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Right?

Speaker 1 (38:15):
These guys rap about the most you know listening and
I'm not I'm not here to say, hey, cash Money
guys like you guys are terrible, like whatever you're an artist,
and but then I'm like, damn, but bro, like, how
you going to how you going to have little men
listening to that?

Speaker 2 (38:27):
The babies? I know, it is a lot. I mean
it's really hard. You can't really posit the blame on
individual artists. You have to really problematize and look at
the industry. Who gets rewarded for making what kind of content? Right?
And it's like, are you being over sexualized? Are you

(38:48):
falling prey to like tropes that you as whatever, as
a Latino man, as a black man, have to fall
into in order to sell your shit, or as a
female rapper, what do you have to talk about? Like
I'm definitely not going to be like, yeah, that's why
this person sex and that person sex, and because I
know behind them is a manager, our agents, is a lawyer,
is a fucking label. Is like it's a huge machine.

(39:12):
And at the end of the day, you don't survive
on a mainstream level without cow telling to those powers. Yeah,
which is why, like I think that you got to
be really careful about and you always have to be
interrogating your notion of success and like what it means
to have to have success within an industry that is
inherently racist, sexist, and violent towards people like us. You know,

(39:36):
it's crazy listen.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
As a baker, chef or a musician or whatever, like
you have to play to the powers that be essentially,
and I think you're doing an amazing job. So I
wouldn't I wouldn't worry too much about it. But thank you.
Tell me about the teaching, Tell me about the school
and the music and everything like that, because.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yeah, I mean, I've been teaching since I was little,
because you know, both of my parents, I mean and
my sister actually, so everybody in my family are all
teachers music or Spanish or different types of art forms.
And my grandma and my grandpa was a professor, and
you know, like it's just very in my body. It's
very in my brain and my body, in my way

(40:16):
of being. And so I was teaching music workshops from
you know, like five years old, just like along with
my family, like sharing skills that I could. And also
teaching is the best way to learn, you know, Like
what do I need to know? Like I'm about to
teach as Walletto? Where does Wiletto come from? Where does
the song come from? Who is the composer what like,
you know, at seven years old, you kind of start

(40:39):
thinking about things in a different way if you have
the responsibility to impart that knowledge to other people. I
started teaching when I came out of college with the
SUSD San Francisco School District Madiacci program, which was really
special because I grew up singing it. Dunchettas and sonas
and all the styles couched under this umbrella of mariachi,

(41:00):
very familiar with and I love like it makes my
heart sing, Like I'm so happy when I'm with my
kids and we're like belting at the top of our lungs,
like just these old and Mariacci songs. You know, it's
like amazing had Mo Socarino and Mo Socarino girl yas

(41:20):
Manda Da Da Da Da da da. Right, they're like
going crazy, they are going like dumb, Like I've had
kids like sobbing in my classes and I car it
almost every day from joy just of seeing these kids, like, oh,
my mom sings this on Saturday, and I'm like, that's right,
You're gonna be singing with her, Like this is what
makes me happy. I don't care if my kids know

(41:41):
my music I don't care who's listening to my music.
To see my children being able to form connections around music,
around culture with their families and with their peers is
I can't even put it towards. So to be able
to come into public schools my alma maters right schools
that I attended, for lack of a better word, it's
very fulfilling, you know, Like it's very special. It's super

(42:03):
important because I felt very alienated as a young person
performing and doing this kind of music. It was not cool.
I know that now with like Corrios, Corriloka Hiros, like
there's a movement towards back to Mexican regional music and
back to like an acknowledgment and a promotion and engagement

(42:23):
with more traditional forms like corrilo and vanda and all
this stuff. But when I was coming up, people looked
at me weird, you know, it was like, oh, are
you going to the soccer match? No, I have a gig,
And I felt very isolated in that way. So now
to be like teaching it to my kids and they're
stoked off of it, I'm like, oh my god, there

(42:44):
was a reason that I was learning this kind of music.
There's a reason that like I felt this connection. It's
not just something I was forced to do. It's not
just something that like I did in this black hole
of familial like you know, like the vees. It's it's
important and not only that, but it's like, how else
are we going to reform these genres and these traditions.

(43:08):
How else are we going to radicalize and completely reimagine
all of these beautiful, complex and sometimes problematic mediums. So
I'm I feel incredibly blessed to have access to that
kind of relationship with the kids, right.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
I mean, you're a leader in that movement. I'm just like, damn, Like,
there are people you know, our age right now who
are trying to move the needle, and you know, whether
it's you know, for me, it's hey, where the black
artists and bakers? Where the where the Afrohundurans, Where the
Afro Latino artists and bakers or latinx if that's what
you choose. I'm just like, yo, I started off just
trying to big bread, but it turned into like, oh,

(43:49):
like me baking bread could impact the life of younger people,
right and show them that, oh, like you can bake
really good bread. Breads and you don't have to adhere
to Western standing.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
No, nor do they have to be ashamed of wanting
to do that in the first place. It's like your
history and your heritage runs usually far deeper than these
Western spheres of acceptability that we are like brought into
in popular culture of any medium, right, baking, music, acting,

(44:22):
any type of culture production, baking, I don't.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
All you can.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
You see?

Speaker 5 (44:32):
You see a butter Marocroissan, I a butter Macroissan? Did
you actually watch it?

Speaker 1 (44:45):
Don't go anywhere. I'd be right back after this. You
don't like what comes next, so let's get right back

(45:05):
into it. You know, we got we got a couple
other things to do before the show wraps. But what's
next for you in terms of I know, you know,
are you touring the world? Are you taking over the world?

Speaker 2 (45:18):
Well, this is the thing is that nobody knows.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Nobody knows.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
I don't know. So I was laughing. I was like,
I'm in crisis, but like, no, in this moment, I
have no idea what is new for me? Like do
you know when this will air?

Speaker 1 (45:33):
I don't know. In the summer maybe, Okay.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Well I'll tell you all my secrets. Then I haven't
told anybody except for my very best friend this. But
on Thursday, I have an audition for a program, a
master's program for Berkeley College of Music, right, and so
this is something that like, I have five jobs, I'm

(45:56):
in the middle of my career, like I have a
lot going on. But at the same time, I was like,
what if we try something new? So I have an
audition on Thursday. We don't see how it goes. The
trumpet for voice. Yeah, but I'm gonna be playing trumpet
as well. Yeah, So I'm gonna I'm gonna just do
my thing, you know, see how far it goes. Maybe
something will come of it, maybe not. Otherwise, I have

(46:18):
tons of music that I want to release but don't
have a firm timeline. And at the beginning of the
year it was driving me crazy. I was like, oh
my god, what am I doing? When is it going
to happen? Like where is this deal? Like we're in
process with so many different things. I was very impatient,
feeling really like, but now I'm like, oh my god,

(46:38):
what a blessing to have actually space to think about
what you want to do.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Damn, that's like, oh, there's levels to music. Right, I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
I mean, I don't think they want me, but whoaybe
they do?

Speaker 1 (46:51):
Well? They won't hear this well after the fact settled.
All right, we have something that we need to do now.
It's called our flaky game. All right, We're gonna play
a game. Stoke. She's like, oh fucking game, bring it on,
because we we don't necessarily like prep people for this.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
But it's it's not I honestly I do better without
any prep. That's why I haven't practiced for my audition.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah again again, you've got you've got some leeway here
to the listeners, in case you hear the plate clinking there,
She is still continuing to So, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
They are big.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
You gotta have them.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
They are fucking big. But like I am working my
way through that ship, will I will get it?

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Hold on, are they too big? No? Okay?

Speaker 2 (47:34):
The only way and I will be too big is
if it's tough. But if it's tender the whole way through,
then you what it could be? This thing?

Speaker 1 (47:43):
Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's still melting on this okay. Okay,
So I did something right, all right, So we're gonna
start a flaking game here. And typically what we like
to do is it'll usually have something to do with
the dish we prepare or your career. In this case,
we chose the dish, all right, which most people know
is a meatball. Right, So I'm gonna ask you some

(48:07):
questions about different international quote unquote all right, you're gonna
have to tell me, with your best judgment, what country
it comes from.

Speaker 2 (48:15):
Oh, well it's okay. I grew up vegetarian, so this
is a great opportunity for me.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
All right, all right, here we go. What country does
Mahuara come from?

Speaker 2 (48:35):
Ouara?

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Is it Jamaica? Is it from Morocco? Or is it
from Ireland?

Speaker 2 (48:41):
Morocco?

Speaker 1 (48:42):
Yes? Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding. Of course,
of course I have been. Oh ship, you've been Morocco.
Oh what part of Morocco did you go to?

Speaker 2 (48:50):
I was in Maraccash, I was in and like some
other areas.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
Around, we're all up in Morocco. Then, all right, okay,
is it Poland? Is it Scotland? Or is it Italy?

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Italy?

Speaker 1 (49:07):
Yes? Of course, of course, of course, what.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
We If you had done this then I would have
said it would be called Pete.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
This one, this one, I'm pretty sure accurate. What what
country does bitter ball in?

Speaker 2 (49:30):
Oh, not the bitter ball in.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
What country does bitter ballin come from? Is it Finland?
Is it China? Or is it the Netherlands?

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Okay, well I don't know the difference between Finland and
the Netherlands, but which one sounds a little bit more
like it? Again?

Speaker 1 (49:50):
Bitter? Bitter?

Speaker 2 (49:51):
Is this the hand signal you want? No?

Speaker 1 (49:53):
No, this is this is the panicking Brian. I hope
I'm not offending hand signal, Like, hey, guys, I' just
trying to say bitter balling.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
And what are they do in Finland?

Speaker 1 (50:03):
Oh, they like to take cold plunges, saunas and sauna
they love.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Snaky Let's say Finland. Didn't you just been weeding it
or something?

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Apparently bitter balling is a savory and immensely popular food
served as a snack at bars in the Dutch countryside.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
And are they bitter? Are they meatballs?

Speaker 1 (50:30):
I don't. Yeah, there it's a breaded and deep fried Actually.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
That's rice though, so deep fried meatball?

Speaker 1 (50:42):
Yeah, a deep fried meatball. No, wonder it is bitter
because they got fried?

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Is that what happens to meat when you.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Well, if I was a meatball, I wouldn't want to
be fried. I want to be braised or baked or baked.
We're gonna have to work out that bitter ball. No,
lie rely, that's old Cameron Ship.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
Hey Cameron, that's Jim Jones.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Cameron, Cameron sampled it.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Oh my god, I don't know I'm old.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
All right? So what country does both Vienne come from?
Vienn Is it Spain? Is it Vietnam? Or is it Italy?

Speaker 2 (51:30):
Vietnam? Ding Ding ding dingba Vietnam.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
So news flash, we're gonna do a special tour at
all of.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
These touring in Finland, Vietnam.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
No, No, Netherlands because Bitterball. We're gonna bitter Ball and
also Finland. It's the Sauna tour.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
Okay, it's just like us.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
It's just making a shay out. I think you should
have a food show sidebar anyway. All right, So here
at Flakey Busy we like to end our episodes with
our guests talking about some organizations that are very meaningful
to you, things that you are involved with to improve
your communities. I understand Mission Meals and Quik Ali Escuela

(52:20):
are special to you.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Yeah, definitely. Mission meals, I think did an amazing job
of really reaching undocumented folks, elderly people, a lot of
different community members that were left food and secure during
the pandemic. They did direct food aids, so helping people
that just like wouldn't be eating, you know, just sending
them boxes, sending them a lot of different support. You know,

(52:46):
they have a Patita their food program for dogs and
for pets. So they just did a lot to keep
the food and secure people of our community safe and
said and healthy. And also just opened up, in collaboration
with Home's just opened up a free food market. So
that means so the members of this nonprofit mission Malls

(53:06):
Coalition are able to go and actually you know, exert
more control of their lives and decide what they want.
It's all culturally relevant tailored to you know, the LATINX
population out here. In the mission, people get to choose
what they want and what they're going to cook with
what they need for the week, and they don't have

(53:27):
to pay for it. So that's like such an amazing
initiative to me. Led by gabrie La Leman, who's a
beautiful visual artist and community organizer. Weikakali is also a
cultural school of dance and music led by Arian Cortez
and Hessus Cortes, both of whom I know through teaching
in the schools. They teach dance and music respectively, and

(53:47):
they I mean, bro, Like I seen Hesus, we teach
the same school. I seen him on Valentine's Day and
I was like, oh, what are you guys seeing you
to have fun? He was like, yeah, we teach till
nine every night, after teaching in the school all day,
after leading heading the Mariacci program for the entire district.
I was like, damn, these people, like they are putting
in work. So shouts out Quikakali, shouts out Brava, who

(54:10):
hosts them, and their theater and their space. My nephew
goes there to learn by left. It's just these people
with just like extremely expensive spirits and like I hope
to be like them, honestly, just fucking go them.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
Bro Wow, I'm just like, yo, should we just like
stay in San Francisco and help? How can I help?

Speaker 2 (54:33):
How can I why I'm still here?

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Yeah? Yeah? And so is there a volunteering donation, like
you know, a lot.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
Of different opportunities. I mean, if you got that money
and pull out your check. But in that ways we
can link to the funding bodies and putting attention and
putting recognition on their names and on their projects. I
think that like very often, the most important work goes
under recognized, and that's.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
The shout out them. We really appreciate you being here
today in the mission and Franco, thank you so much
for coming out to Flaky Biscuit. It was an honor
to have you here. Cecilia also dona Ya. Fam, make
sure you get on your Spotify whatever you're listening to

(55:22):
your music, get the algonvo going son, go clean the house,
go write your book, go work out bitter Ball, and
we about to do a remix out this mug. We
about to have the Bitter Ball in freestyle. Thank you
so much for coming up Flaky Biscuit. It was such

(55:42):
a pleasure.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
Thank you for having me Illo, Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
Fam. If you want to make the album for yourself,
you already know you can find a recipe on shanaland
dot com and Fam, tell me how it goes. You
already know how it is. I want to know how
what kind of t lists are you using? You know
what I'm saying are you using it from the latta
from the can or are you making it from scratch?
Tag me artists in Brian tax Cecilia, Ladonia four one five,

(56:13):
Post a photo, post some videos. You want to see
all making some serside. I want to see how spicy
all sausa get. I want to see who's like sneezing
and got the seeds on their fingertips and got to
wash the hands and can't touch the eyes and all
that kind of thing. And of course get into the discord.
Tell us how you did if you're not used to
touch in gless wear some gloves. That's all I gotta say.
And don't forget to check out Quikakali at quikakalif dot

(56:37):
com and of course Mission Meals at Mission Meals coalition
dot org. You can find my handle and all of
the links that I mentioned in the show notes for
this episode. So if you like Flakey Biscuit, you know
what to do. Leave us a rating or review, share,
subscribe like all of that. Flaky Biscuit is executive produced
by Sandy Bailey, alex Alcea, Lauren Home, Tyler Klang, and

(57:01):
Gabrielle Collins. Our creative producer is Bridget Kenna and our
editor and producer is Nicholas Harder, with music by Crucial.
Recipes from Flaky Biscuit can be found each week on
shondaland dot Com. Subscribe to the Shondaland YouTube channel for
more Flaky Biscuit content. Flaky Biscuit is a production of
Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from

(57:25):
Shondaland Audio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.