In Oaxaca, Mexico, a young Javier Villatoro would wake up at 5 a.m. to the smell of nixtamal. The boiled mixture of water, corn and minerals like limestone or ashes was left to rest overnight. That’s how the Indigenous people of the Americas have done it for thousands of years, including the Zapotec people with whom Villatoro identifies.
“My grandma was already waiting for me reading the Bible or combing her beautiful white hair, ready for me to carry the nixtamal to the pueblo’s mill,” Villatoro said, recalling how large the mill of their town was, “and then we would grind [the nixtamal] there and make tortillas for the family very early in the morning.”
Now, Villatoro spends their Thursday mornings at the Q House, a center that provides community-based spaces and resources in New Haven, using this same technique known as nixtamalization to make fresh tortillas and tamales. When Villatoro gives the nixtamal a taste to make sure it’s made just right, they say it tastes like the lands of the people indigenous to the Americas, reminding them of home.
A better environment for immigrant workers
Villatoro is one of three immigrant workers that form the Tortillera Semilla, a worker cooperative based in New Haven. In a cooperative, the owners of the business are the workers themselves, so the workers make decisions about the enterprise together. It’s a far cry from the work environments Villatoro has been a part of in the past.
“I've been working in kitchens for like, six, seven years now, and you have no idea how many meals I've had, standing on my feet, having five minutes to eat,” Villatoro said.
That’s just one of many examples Villatoro said they faced at previous jobs because of a lack of knowledge regarding workers rights.
“I myself have been taken advantage of because of lack of knowledge of understanding what my rights are, understanding that after 40 hours, you get one and a half times your salary, and things like that, which are known for most people,” they said. “But when you arrive fresh at this country, you don't know about those things.”
They were able to learn about workers' rights and leave their toxic work environment after connecting with the Semilla Collective, a grassroots organization based in New Haven that advocates for immigrant workers’ rights.
Anabel Hernandez of Meriden connected with the collective after working at a local business on New Haven’s Grand Avenue, where she said she experienced labor and wage exploitation for five years, such as working with unpaid overtime and with short or no meal breaks, before being unjustly fired.
Working with the collective, Hernandez said she was able to win a year-long labor and employment case with a settlement from the business. It was only possible, she said, because of the Semilla Collective.
“I couldn’t have done it on my own. I couldn’t have. Specifically how to gain respect and know my rights and not be exploited by not knowing about being paid overtime and how to sit down for a meal break. There’s a lot of things, like rights, that I learned,” she said in Spanish.
Both Hernandez and Villatoro apply what they’ve learned to the tortilla shop.
Sometimes, Villatoro said they have to remind themselves to engage in healthy work environment habits, after years of toxic working habits being ingrained in them.
“We have to make sure that the work is done in time, that the work comes out clean, comes out fast, and the biggest exploiter of oneself can be myself. Sometimes I have to fight that,” they said. “I have to also be the person to say, ‘Oh, let's sit down to eat.’”
The Tortillera Semilla has been officially operating since 2023. Villatoro said their goal is to expand and one day open a storefront, in the hopes of creating more jobs for immigrants and inspiring other cooperatives to do the same.
With the growth in workers, however, comes the growth in involvement. According to Villatoro, the three workers want to maintain the cooperative model, so as they grow, they will have to face the challenge of learning how to make sure everyone is involved in the business decision-making process.
It’s a challenge worth facing, Villatoro said, as the Tortilleria collective aims to create jobs that support other immigrants who have faced the same labor challenges they have had.
It’s a matter of respect that they maintain both in the labor practices of the business and in the creation of their tortillas.
Making tortillas the way they’ve always been made
Elizabeth Gonzalez of New Haven is reminded of her grandparents when she makes tortillas using the nixtamalization process.
“The taste is one of a kind,” she said in Spanish. “For me, it tastes like the fresh-made tortilla of my grandmother … with the smoke of the firewood and the spices my grandmother used.”
Though it may not taste exactly the same, since there is no firewood being used in the Q House kitchen in New Haven, Gonzalez said the tortillas evoke the same feelings and memories of her youth.
Working with the Tortilleria collective is an opportunity for her to leave a legacy for her children, she said, teaching them about the significance of nixtamalization.
“Corn is not only food to us, it's actually part of our cosmology, the way that we understand the world,” Javier Villatoro said. “In many cultures, actually, in my culture, too, I'm Zapotec. We say that we come from the corn. We have a deity of the corn.”
Keeping the tradition of nixtamalization not only serves as a way to honor their ancestors, Villatoro said; it’s a reminder that their ancestors are from the Americas which span across the continents.
“People who eat corn have been in this place since the inception of this country. It's not like we came out of thin air. We've been here and we are here now and we are not going anywhere,” Villatoro said. “So, when you eat tortillas, our tortillas, or any other tortillas that are made with corn, I would hope that you feel that you belong, that you are home and that you are welcome here.”
Learn more
Visit the Tortilleria Semilla Co-op website to learn more about their offerings and find contact information for placing an order.
