Raquel Torres Cerdán

Raquel Torres Cerdán, also Raquel Torres (born 19 November 1948) is a Mexican anthropologist and restaurateur, who has worked to record, preserve and showcase the cuisines of the indigenous peoples of Veracruz, through her restaurants and food writing.

Biography Torres was born in Xalapa on 19 November 1948. Her parents were Guillermina Cerdán, a housewife, and Abel Torres García, who was variously an itinerant coffee-seller, bricklayer, waiter and eventually restaurant owner. She credits meeting the chef Angel Objeco, who worked at her father's restaurant of La Parroquia, in inspiring her interest in cuisine. She initially worked as a civil servant, but made the move to study Anthropology at University of Veracruz in order to expand her knowledge of the food of the indigenous peoples of Veracruz. The accumulation of this knowledge and its preservation has become an important aspect of Torres' career.

Research into indigenous cuisine inspired Torres to open her first restaurant, La Fonda, which served a menu dedicated to the regional foods. The chef and writer Diana Kennedy has cited Torres' work as an influence. Torres Cerdán, Raquel. Las flores en la cocina mexicana. Vol. 22. Conaculta Culturas Populares, 2000. Torres Cerdán, Raquel; Careaga Gutiérrez, Dora Elena; and Cruz, Carretero Sagrario. La cocina afromestiza en Veracruz. (1995).