Iliana de la Vega is the first faculty member hired for The Culinary Institute of America’s Center for Foods of the Americas in San Antonio, where the first in a series of professional-development courses on Latin American cuisines was offered in March. Born in Mexico City, de la Vega is the former chef and co-owner of El Naranjo restaurant in Oaxaca, Mexico. She was a visiting chef in 2007 at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Q. Why do you think it is important that the CIA has opened the San Antonio campus with its focus on foods of the Americas?

A. The area hasn’t been very well addressed. There are a lot of gaps in knowledge of Latino-American foods, even though we are so close to Mexico, especially here in Texas. There is a lack of knowledge; there are many more things that can be explored.

When people say, “We do Mexican cooking,” people think that it’s very greasy, heavy food. But we cook very healthfully in Mexico. Well, we have both sides, of course. But many people confuse Mexican with Tex-Mex foods. Both styles are good, but they’re very different.

It’s appropriate that people understand both and the values of both. Neither style is better; they are just different.

Q. What do you wish non-Hispanic chefs most understood about Hispanic cuisines?

A. The healthful side. That’s most important, and it is very little appreciated and understood.

Q. Where should chefs begin in deepening their knowledge of the foods of Mexico as well as other Hispanic cuisines?

A. People need to learn about the ingredients. There are a lot of ingredients in Mexico and Latin America that are native to the areas but that are available [in the United States] now. The problem is that chefs don’t know how to use them. Chayote, for example, or the many different chiles from South America. Chefs don’t know how to use them or that they’re available.

Learn what is used [in Latino cuisines] as well as the techniques, approaches, presentations and history. All of these are important. What can you do with masa? Yes, you can make tortillas, but there is a wide variety of other dishes that you can use masa for not only from Mexico but also from Central or South America.

All of that hasn’t been discovered yet by chefs, but it’s important.

Q. What will change that?

A. We’re doing our best here at the CIA to do that with continuing-education courses. Our first two courses in March [that I taught] were on Mexican cooking. One course is Mexico’s Corn Kitchen and the other is Regional Mexican Cuisine: Puebla and Oaxaca.

We’ll also be making research trips: We’re planning one to Oaxaca and another to Mexico City. We’ll also have one to Peru. We’ll bring a lot of information back here to make better courses so that more chefs can learn about foods of the Americas and share [that knowledge] with consumers.

Q. If I were going to add one Oaxacan dish to my menu, what would you want it to be?

A. A mole negro. A good mole negro.

Q. That sounds like you’ve tasted a few that weren’t good.

A.Oh yes. Even there. Mexican food is delicate in many ways. It’s easy if you understand the basics. And my goal here is to get chefs to understand that you can take a sauce and turn it into nothing [that is] good. The same sauce can be wonderful if you know the basic steps. It’s not complicated, but sometimes people don’t pay attention to the details. And in Mexican cooking those details are the difference between a just-OK meal and a very good meal, something you remember and come back for.

Q. Hispanics represent a significant portion of the foodservice workforce, but Hispanic chefs are underrepresented. What will change that?

A. Part of the goal of the CIA [in San Antonio] is exactly that. Many times you find people with great skills, but they need more education. We’re trying to focus on getting them a better education so they can get better positions at the top, where things happen, instead of always being in the back with no credit.

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