[dropcap size=big]F[/dropcap]or Maria Del Socorro Vazquez, dreams of opening her restaurant featuring food from her homeplace of Guerrero seemed unimaginable. Upon migrating to the United States from Guerrero, Mexico, Maria, a single mother, made ends meet by working as a housekeeper in Los Angeles.
In the early 2000s, she decided that cleaning houses was no longer bringing in the income needed to support her family, so she dedicated her weekends to street-vending sopes and various tacos dorados by the Ramona Garden Projects in East L.A. “A esos tiempos hace 20 años, era más prohibido vender comida en la calle, pero para mi era necesidad…(Back in the day, 20 years ago, street vending was far more prohibited, but for me, it was a necessity.”)
Zacil “DJ Sizzle” Pech was ten years old when her mother decided to begin street vending. Though she understood and appreciated her mother’s esfuerzo (effort), bullying from her schoolmates brought her shame. When her mother would ask her for help to work as a cashier, Zacil shared she felt embarrassed because her schoolmates would call her “La Hija de la Sopera...The Sope vending lady’s daughter.” This experience is all too common for young children of color taught that “American” culture meant living in white picket-fenced homes, in two-parent households, working office jobs, deeming any other experience as unpopular and uncool.