Vanessa Garcia

Vanessa Garcia writes about food and beverage and how it links with culture. She is the author of the children's book, What the Bread Says, as well as the novel White Light, which was one of NPR's Best Books of 2015 and also won an International Latino Book Award. She's written for Caillou, Sesame Street, and other shows, and has a PhD which focused on Cuba. Vanessa also wrote the award-winning immersive hit, The Amparo Experience, which she won a Ruth Foreman Award for. She has another play called Sweet Goats & Blueberry Señoritas, about a Cuban-American baker who weaves her Cuban roots into Maine and vice versa.

Vanessa enjoys cooking and baking with her kids. A long time ago she considered becoming a chef, but realized she was more pulled by the story of food and the story behind it, inside it, and around it.

Vanessa's Dessert Island Food: I would need kombucha. An endless Mediterranean tabla full of olives, manchego, dark chocolate, Marcona almonds. Then we edge a little into grape leaves and hummus; dried fruits—dried mango is key; camembert. And now I'm going to say something embarrassing: I'm currently addicted to my toddler's snacks (I know, pathetic but truthful)—specifically these Sesame Street Earth's Best veggie and cheddar puffs. And grilled cheese man, grilled cheese is my other hopeless guilty pleasure that has zero fancy in it.