Abigail Mendoza Ruiz (also known as Abigail Mendoza) is a Zapotec

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

and co-owner of restaurant Tlamanalli, which she runs with her sisters, in Teotitlán del Valle, Mexico, near

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

. She opened Tlamanalli in February 1990 in order to serve traditional Zapotec cuisine such as

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

and squash blossom soup. The restaurant was soon featured in '' Gourmet'' magazine. In 1993, her restaurant received a write-up by food critic

Molly O'Neill Molly O'Neill (9 Oct 1952, Columbus, Ohio - 16 Jun 2019) was an American food writer, cookbook author, and journalist, perhaps best known for her food column in the New York Times Sunday Magazine and Style section throughout the 1990s. Molly O'N ...

in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. Mendoza Ruiz has since traveled to France to demonstrate Zapotec cooking. She was profiled in

Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain (; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian who starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdai ...

's series '' Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown'', featured in a documentary about British food writer

Diana Kennedy Diana Kennedy MBE (; 3 March 1923 – 24 July 2022) was a British food writer. A primary English-language authority on Mexican cuisine, Kennedy was known for her nine books on the subject, including '' The Cuisines of Mexico'', which changed ...

, and shown on a digital cover of ''Vogue Mexico and Latin America'' for the magazine's 20th anniversary. Mendoza Ruiz was born in the 1960s and learned to cook by watching her mother and aunt in the kitchen.

References

External links

Video of Mendoza Ruiz on ''Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza Ruiz, Abigail Zapotec people People from Oaxaca Indigenous Mexican women Mexican chefs Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Native Americans