Since 2005, Texas-born conceptual artist and former Heeb photo editor, Peter Svarzbein has been interviewing and photographing Latino families in the American Southwest who are returning to Judaism — believing their ancestors were Conversos, forced converts to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition.
Svarzbein, 33, was looking for a way for more people to feast their eyes on these portraits of Crypto Jews and to chew on the historic circumstances that connect Latinos and Jewish traditions. That’s when he came up with the idea for a food truck — a kosher taco truck, to be exact.
With the support of various organizations in his native El Paso, Svarzbein launched Conversos y Tacos Kosher Gourmet Trucks, an innovative and interactive art installation than ran for a week in the city in far West Texas in late July.
Over the week, the truck made six stops at various community and food events around El Paso (where Szarzbein grew up in a culturally Jewish family with a Hispanic-Ashkenazi background), serving fusion taco plates melding Jewish and Mexican cuisine. The food reflected the questions Svarzbein wants to challenge people with, like: How can a person be both Jewish and Latino? How can culture, religion and identity fuse together over, or through, the U.S.-Mexico border?
The artist teamed up with local chef Jose Cazares of Hello Day Café to come up with three unique tacos inspired by both Jewish and Latino food. The first was a pickle and brisket taco (“a deli experience on a corn tortilla”), the second was a chicken shawarma taco served with Israeli salad and tahini, and the third was a kosher carne asada taco with pico de gallo and cilantro. All three were served together, along with a latke and a jalapeno dipping sauce with a soy sauce base. Conversos y Tacos charged patrons a symbolic $6.13 for the whole plate.
Sourcing the kosher meat for these special tacos was not so simple. Svarzbein got some of it from fellow El Paso native Ari White, who has been wowing New York recently with his pop-up kosher Texas-style barbeque (his smoker is called HaKadosh BBQ). “We had to go to the Trader Joe’s in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the rest of the kosher chicken and brisket,” Svarzbein said.
QUIENES FUIMOS ALEJADOS DEL JUDAÍSMO POR IMPOSICIÓN (CASO ESPAÑA) ABRAZAMOS A DI-S Y SU TORAH CON TODA LA FUERZA DEL CORAZÓN EN NUESTRA VIDA. GLORIA Y HONRA A HASHEM.
Hermoso pueblo que ha sufrido mucho y mucho son trabajadores la mayoría !!bienvenidos a México!!