Graduate Ambassador Blog Posts
Building Your Latin/Hispanic Community & Finding Foods From Your Native Country
October 25, 2023
Hello, My name is Adriana, I am Mexican and Cuban, and I hope sharing my journey of how I grew my Latin/Hispanic community at U of R helps you find your community here too.
I came to the University of Rochester, like many of you, with no community.
To start, I think if you’re privileged enough to own a car and be able to live in a town a drive away from U of R where your latin/hispanic community exists, start by living there if that will help you feel more at home here and the commute works for you.
I don’t have a car though, so my sense of feeling at home and finding my community started with looking for familiar foods and joining the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), which is a graduate and undergraduate group on campus.
I started my search for the feeling of home by going to almost every grocery store in the local Rochester area to find my essential comfort foods. There are some foods that are easy to find in stores like tortillas, Goya juice, plantain chips, and pork rinds aka chicharron in Mexican Spanish. I know my list of comfort foods may be more specific to my Mexican and Cuban cultures, but I know that there is an overlap with other cultures’ foods too, so here’s a list of stores that have some of the items you may have been looking for as well:
- Papaya Juice aka Fruta Bomba
- Ham Croquettes
- Dona Maria Mole
- Tomatillos
- Salsa Verde (if you don’t want to make it from scratch)
- Tostadas
- Masa
- Chipotle Peppers in a can
- Goya Sazon (various)
- Goya Adobo
- Goya Cubitos de Pollo
- Queso Fresco
- Guava Paste
- Café Bustelo
- Goya Maria Cookies
- Jarritos
- All of the above minus papaya juice
- Papusas
- Salsa Verde
- Tostadas
- Masa
- Chipotle Peppers in a can
- Goya Sazon (various)
- Goya Adobo
- Goya Cubitos de Pollo
- Queso Fresco
- Guava Paste
- Café Bustelo
- Goya Maria Cookies
- Jarritos
- Salsa Verde
- Goya Sazon
- Goya Adobo
- Goya Cubitos de Pollo
- Guava Paste
- Café Bustelo
- Goya Maria Cookies
- Orejas/Palmiers (cookies)
- Goya Sazon
- Goya Adobo
- Goya Cubitos de Pollo
- Queso Fresco
- Queso Cojita
- Guava Paste
- Goya Maria Cookies
The three items that I wish were in local stores are the Abuelita chocolate, Crema Mexicana, and Cuban crackers. When I’m able to go home to NYC I will stock up on Abuelita chocolate, Cuban crackers, and Mexican candy.
For finding items not listed above, you can do a search in the Wegmans app and see which store carries the item. If there are foods you’ve been looking for, I encourage you to reach out to friends and keep asking around, maybe someone knows exactly where to find the item you’re looking for. This is how some of my friendships were forged, simply because I mentioned I was struggling to find an item and they knew exactly where to find it or vice versa. Sometimes you may also find that you have a very talented baker friend who can make Mexican conchas and will share with you!
A few of my friendships were actually formed because I mentioned to someone that I missed having a connection to my cultures. This person ended up hosting a dinner for all the Mexicans they know and we ended up creating a group chat to go get Mexican groceries a few towns over every so often. So, this is how I stock up on a lot of foods I can’t find at my local grocery store. This is why it’s important to talk to people about what needs you have that aren’t being met, not just about food and friendship, but academics and other things, because maybe someone has a resource you didn’t know about.
More on making connections, as I mentioned earlier, I joined SACNAS and occasionally would go to some events, but it wasn’t until I joined the e-board as the Vice President that I started to feel more a part of the Latin/Hispanic community at U of R. For me I needed to take the extra step to feel a part of the community, so perhaps, if being a member of a club at school hasn’t made you feel connected yet, then try joining the e-board, you may find that that’s exactly what you need.
And if the group you joined doesn’t feel like the right connection and you don’t think joining the e-board will help, then maybe they can connect you with a better fit. Through SACNAS I found out about the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), this group plays sports, such as volleyball and soccer, so if you’re looking for a latin community that meets every Friday night for a game, then this is the group to join. I’m not a sports person, but many of my friends are in ALAS and I often suggest their group to students who like sports.
Other ways to connect with the Latin/Hispanic community is through a google search. That’s how I found out about the Hispanic Heritage Celebration at the Memorial Art Gallery and learned about Latin/Hispanicorganizations that exist in the Rochester area. Some of my friends have even performed at the Hispanic Heritage Celebration and piqued my interest in performing. So, if you’re interested in performing, you can check out the link and contact the groups that performed this year.
I know how hard it can be trying to juggle your courses and lab work, acclimating to a new environment, and trying to make friends with limited time, and I encourage you to keep going. You will find your community! It took me a year to find my community, so I hope my advice helps you find your community sooner. Come connect with us at SACNAS and ALAS!