Panaderias: A Taste of Home in the Valley

YAKIMA, Wash. -- The pastries and loaves of bread that line the walls at Panaderia El Solecito all have their stories.

The recipes for the roughly 40 varieties of bread and sweets baked there every day mostly come from owner Paulino Suarez’s home state of Michoacan, Mexico. But there are newer ones, too, recipes he’s developed especially to match the tastes of this community, like the apple-filled empanadas.

“We learn a lot from our customers,” Suarez said. “We love to hear from them, what they want.”

That’s one of the ways cultural exchange happens through food, said Rodrigo Renteria-Valencia, a Central Washington University anthropology professor whose specialties include Latin American cultures.

Read more of this story in the Yakima Herald.