For many immigrants, moving to the United States means more than a change of language and culture. It also means acquiring new knowledge, skills, and work. Take Yasira, for example. In Venezuela, she had a college degree in Early Childhood Education and worked for more than ten years as a full-time pre-school teacher. Eight years later, in Asheville, she’s just purchased a food truck and is building a business selling delicious Latin food at locations all around Buncombe County.
When she moved to the United States eight years ago, with very little English, she says, the job open to her was working in a factory. “I was afraid to speak. I always used my translator, and it was very, very hard,” she says. Yasira took on the challenge of learning English and also building a new career with energy and optimism.
She signed up for ESOL classes at A-B Tech and, two years ago, started working one-on-one with Doug, an ESOL tutor. She got a new job as a housekeeper four days a week, and she started cooking the traditional Venezuelan dishes–empanadas, arepas–that brought back the comforts of home. One day a friend came to dinner and told her, “These are so delicious. You have to sell them!” That was the seed that launched Sweet and Salty Time, a small catering business she operates out of her home kitchen, selling a variety of amazing sweet breads, cakes, and savory Venezuelan comida deliciosa for local events.
Taking Culture and Language on the Road
Today, Yasira has advanced in her English conversation, reading, and writing skills. She can speak to her customers and, alongside her husband Gabriel, takes the food business on the road three days a week in their new food truck, El Bodegón. For now, the menu and the name are the same Argentinian comfort fare acquired from the previous owner of the food truck. But Yasira looks forward to incorporating her own Venezuelan recipes and culinary creations as her business becomes more established.
“People have been very patient and supportive to me here,” she says, Yasira yearns to pass along that encouragement to others. She’s especially proud of and inspired by her son, who came to the U.S. as a teenager, and has now earned a master’s degree in architecture. Her sister, who arrived more recently from Venezuela, has joined Yasira in English lessons at Literacy Together. And, of course, she’s still sharing recipes with her neighbors and friends!
Yasira’s desire to help others is infectious, and always nurtured by delicious home-cooked food. From factory worker to food truck entrepreneur, Yasira embodies the power of literacy to change lives and build community, one mouth-watering arepa at a time.
