SHIDEH GHANDEHARIZADEH / NEXTGENRADIO
What is the meaning of
home?
Rumi Sevilla speaks with Rosa Inungaray, who has been serving enchiladas at St. Anthony’s bazaar in El Paso for over five decades. Rosa shares her story of cooking, community and the deep sense of home she has found at the bazaar. Rosa’s story is about more than just food – it’s about reconnecting with family and the community that has embraced her for so many years.
Enchilada ‘boss’ feeds El Paso community’s hearts and souls
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Click here for audio transcript
Home is where your family is, where your heart is, where, where you feel safe.
My name is Rosa Inungaray. I’m gonna be 70 years old in a month. We are here in St. Anthony’s Seminary Bazaar in El Paso, Texas.
[Sounds on megaphone blast through speaker]
I’m in charge of one of the booths. It’s the enchilada booth. Okay? The most profitable one and the one that always has a line. I’m the main cook and I’m the, the boss and I tell everybody what to do. And then people yell, “Rosa, Rosa! Hey, hey, hey!”
[Customer orders food at booth]
My mother and other ladies, they started the enchilada booth and um, eventually, they left it to us. Uy!
My whole family moved here to El Paso in 1967. I was 13 years old, so we found this church on Alabama Street served by Franciscans. So the very next year, 1968, we were here helping for the bazaar.
Okay, give me a second, baby. Let me just pay this sweet lady.
It’s, it’s, it’s hard work, believe me. I dip my tortillas in chili and just throw it in the oil.
Sizzles and everything
[Sounds of oil sizzling]
I can throw maybe at least 20 tortillas at a time, and it’s like, “chup, chup, chup, chup”. We have to wear gloves because we end up with blisters on our fingers. Being that my mother was a single mother, so she had to work, you know, it was eight of us and everything. So, she wasn’t a very good cook.
I kind of learned to cook with some ladies at our church. And the ladies were like in their eighties and everything, you know. So I was there, you know, “no, no, no, let me help you, let me help you and everything”. And, um, They would teach me, “mira rosa, si,” something like that. You get this much salt, like in the palm of your hand, so I made a joke, I go, okay.
The size of Vicky’s hand, you know, because, because they never measure anything.
Probably here, I have felt most at home. Everywhere that I go, they know my name and everything. I mean, they treat me like, like I’m their grandmother, like I’m their mom. I had this kid that comes and says, Oh, the way you’re making enchiladas. That’s how my grandma used to make them in Oaxaca. So I, I, I was kind of proud of that.
I’m going to be sorry when I have to stop, you know. Right now my, uh, my whole family helps. So they asked me, Rosa, when is the last year? I go, I don’t know. I can’t decide, you know. So it’s going to be kind of heartbreaking. When we decide to not do it anymore.
We’ve been doing it for 57 years. The seminary here, uh, they’re on their own.
So if we quit, you know, I’m afraid that it will be a big, big loss for El Paso. I fell in love with the seminary the first time I came. I was 13 years old and I was so impressed. You come in, crying, you’re happy and everything, they will listen to you. For free. It’s very important to me.
This place offers to people, oh my god, uh, paz de tu mente, de tu corazón, peace of mind in your heart.
I’m inviting all the kids, young kids, you know, come. Come, you know, experience it. Experience it one day and I know you’re going to love it. I know you’re going to love it. And it’s going to give you a great satisfaction.
Every Labor Day weekend, Rosa Inungaray has worked the same enchilada booth for El Paso’s St. Anthony’s bazaar since she was 13. Rosa’s enchiladas have drawn long lines, with people’s noses pressed up against the booth’s netting as the smell of burnt chile and sizzling tortillas fill the air. More than a cook, the 70-year-old has become a beloved figure of the community. She has fed thousands of people and has created a sense of belonging for many through the simple joy of food, faith and one enchilada booth.
“I’m the main cook and I’m the boss,” she said. “I tell everybody what to do and they won’t leave me alone. They won’t do anything unless Rosa says, ‘Go.’ So that’s it.”
Rosa Inungaray (left) talks to the youngest member of her family. Every year, Inungaray’s family comes down from different parts of Texas to be together during St. Anthony’s bazaar in El Paso. Many of them help in the kitchen for the three days of the event.
RUMI SEVILLA / NEXTGENRADIO
Rosa discovered her love for cooking early on, finding joy in it despite her single mother’s limited time to cook. It was the women of the church who took her under their wing, teaching her the art of preparing traditional dishes.
After moving to El Paso in 1967, Rosa and her family joined the Catholic church on Alabama Street that was served by the same Franciscans who organized the seminary’s bazaar. Rosa’s family was quick to get involved, and eventually Rosa took over the enchilada booth.
Rosa attributes much of her success to a 6-inch-deep hand-made grill, where she can throw 20 tortillas into a pool of sizzling oil and chile at one time.
“It has to be at a certain heat. And you have to be flipping them because they’re going to get tostadas and we don’t want that, right?” she said. “So it’s a whole process. I really love it. I really enjoy it.”
Rosa views the bazaar as a chance to reconnect with family and others through her food.
“I had this kid that comes and says, ‘Oh, the way you’re making enchiladas, that’s how my grandma used to make them in Oaxaca,’” Rosa said. “It’s the feeling that I’m needed, that I’m wanted. Everywhere I go, they know my name. I mean, they treat me like I’m their grandmother. All the students, they treat me like I’m their mom. It’s home to me.”
Inungaray flips tortillas in sizzling oil, a crucial step in crafting her famous enchiladas at St. Anthony’s bazaar.
RUMI SEVILLA / NEXTGENRADIO
Two of Inungaray’s sisters begin the second phase of the enchilada making process: rolling and stuffing with cheese, onions and warm enchilada sauce.
RUMI SEVILLA / NEXTGENRADIO
Inungaray prepares enchiladas while her team assembles plates with cheese and sides at the bazaar, continuing her decades-long tradition.
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A plate of Inungaray’s famous enchiladas, served with beans and Mexican rice.
RUMI SEVILLA / NEXTGENRADIO
LAURA GONZALEZ / NEXTGENRADIO
While Rosa’s cooking has become the community’s home, the seminary itself has become Rosa’s.
“Paz de tu mente, de tu corazón, peace of mind, and your heart,” Rosa said. “You come in crying, you come in happy and everything, they will listen to you. I mean, the [Franciscans] have open arms for everybody. That’s the biggest advantage.”
St. Anthony’s seminary is a school for male students who come from Mexico to study to become priests of the Franciscan order. The school relies heavily on the money earned through the bazaar to sustain it for the whole year. Rosa’s enchilada booth has become one of the most popular and profitable attractions, making her contributions vital to the event’s success.
“If we quit, you know, it’s gonna be maybe a big decline,” she said. “That’s the income that they expect to receive. So that is one of the things where I’m like — Oh my god, I’m letting them down.”
The bazaar has become an important tradition, one she hopes will continue with the next generations.
“I’m inviting all the kids, young kids, you know, come … experience it. Experience it one day, and I know you’re gonna love it,” she said. “It’s going to give you great satisfaction.”
Through the bazaar, Rosa has created a sense of belonging, allowing the community to share stories and reconnect over shared plates of her red enchiladas with piles of beans and Mexican rice.
“Home is where your family is, where your heart is, where you feel safe, where you want to be. And this place here – I want to be here,” she said. “So I call it also home.”
Inungaray, the beloved enchilada “boss” of St. Anthony’s bazaar, has been serving her signature dishes to the community for decades.
RUMI SEVILLA / NEXTGENRADIO