The kitchen has always been one of my two favorite places in any home. Most of the kitchens I go to are full of love and of joy and of laughter. What better place is there to gather and be? Oh, and I love to cook and bake too.
For the last 5 or so months, my team hasn’t had the privilege of having a kitchen. Most of our meals came from restaurants or Seven-Eleven frozen meals. Eating out became a fun adventure! It meant going to the night market or wondering around trying to find a place in budget that looked safe enough to eat (which is why we often ate at Seven-Eleven). And then we flew all the way around the world from Thailand to Guatemala and showed up at a house that had no kitchen. I was not surprised and I did not think anything of it.
But then our host, David, said breakfast was a German’s house and his wife Suzi was cooking. I got excited! Home cooked food and a nice table to sit at sounded like the best gift in the whole world. Little did I know Suzi’s cooking was the gift in and of itself. Suzi is a phenomenal cook! She makes rice and beans and mustard chicken and anything else you can possibly imagine, except Tacos. My mouth waters at the thought of her fried chicken; it is out of this world.
But we don’t eat Suzi’s food everyday. Sometimes we eat in the market (beware) and sometimes we cook on our rooftop with fire. But Suzi told the team we were always welcome at her house as long as we told her we were coming, so me and my teammate ChaCha come to Suzi’s every single night. We help her prepare dinner and we sit at the small table in their kitchen and talk to the family.
We spend time with German and Suzi and their kids Oscar, Luis, Nateli, Emili, Dilan, and Grecia. We laugh around the table like we are part of the family. Suzi even cooked plantains one night because she knew they were ChaCha’s favorite meal. The food is made out of love and with joy. Spending time with her family and in her kitchen only adds to the flavors in the food. When spending time with German and Suzi you become part of the family and Suzi’s food is the open invitation to be a part.
Xenacoj wouldn’t be Xenacoj without Suzi’s kitchen because it is an invitation into the lives of the people here. It is an invitation into a Mayan family and it is an invitation into Suzi’s life. Xenacoj has a lot of wonderful things and wonderful places but Suzi’s kitchen and Suzi’s cooking are the best things about it.
Suzi’s cooking does more than just satisfy the taste buds and fills the stomache; Suzi’s cooking satisfies the heart because it fills the soul.
