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'Top Chef' Claudette Zepeda on 'Cooking the Borderlands'

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom
Published June 1, 2026 at 12:10 PM EDT
The cover of "Cooking the Borderlands" and author Claudette Zepeda. (Courtesy of Penguin Random House and Johnny Miller)
Courtesy of Penguin Random House and Johnny Miller
The cover of "Cooking the Borderlands" and author Claudette Zepeda. (Courtesy of Penguin Random House and Johnny Miller)

San Diego-based chef Claudette Zepeda has been going back and forth to Mexico her entire life. Now in “Cooking The Borderlands: Spice and Smoke Between Mexico and the States,” Zepeda shares the many cuisines that she’s found in her journeys.

She joins host Peter O’Dowd to talk about the book.

Book excerpt: ‘Cooking the Borderlands’

By Claudette Zepeda

Tres leches gelatina con mango

Tres leches gelatina con mango from “Cooking the Borderland.” (Courtesy of David Alvarado/Claudette Zepeda/Jason Sutherland Hsu)

Frijoles rancheros

Frijoles rancheros from “Cooking the Borderland.” (Courtesy of David Alvarado/Claudette Zepeda/Jason Sutherland Hsu)

Reprinted with permission from “Cooking the Borderlands: Spice and Smoke Between Mexico and the States” by Claudette Zepeda. Copyright © 2026 by Claudette Zepeda. 

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR
Here & Now Newsroom