Wisconsin is home to a very diverse population of Latino immigrants who are contributing to the state in a variety of positive ways.
Sujhey Beisser, originally from Venezuela, is one of those immigrants and she has a very unique and visceral view not only on the evolution of the largest non-profit that serves the Dane County Latino community – Centro Hispano – but also the flavors that have been changing and influencing the palate of our local culture. She will talk about those two things at the Wisconsin Historical Museum today at “History Sandwiched In: The Evolution of Centro Hispano and the Latino Flavors that Influence our Palate.”
Every Tuesday, the Wisconsin Historical Society hosts a lecture featuring various very interesting community members titled “History Sandwiched In.” They recently contacted Beisser, a very passionate home cook, because of her popular food blog, column, and website titled “Five Senses Palate.”
“When they first contacted me, I thought I had to cook a sandwich,” Beisser laughs.
They would later find out that Beisser played a very important role at Centro Hispano for the past decade and her presentation would also include a significant talk about the fast-growing Latino population in Dane County and the evolution of Centro Hispano.
“How Centro Hispano went from an all-volunteer agency that started to help Cuban immigrants to what it is today – helping over 5,000 families every year and all of the programs that Centro has,” Beisser tells Madison365. “That’s a little bit about what I’ll be talking about.
Beisser has been researching data on Latino immigrants in anticipation for this afternoon’s talk, which will run from 12:15 p.m.-1 p.m.
“I will start back with the history of Centro – how it all started with [first executive director] Ilda Thomas and all that and then I will go into some of the demographics and data,” she says.
“Along with some of those numbers,” she adds, “I also want to talk about some facts and some myths about Latinos.”
Centro Hispano was founded in 1983 to meet the needs of the Latino community in Dane County. Beisser was on the board of directors at Centro Hispano for 10 years and the board president for two of those years. During her time on the board was a time for great improvements made to Centro’s building, programs and personnel including the hiring of current executive director Karen Menendez Coller.
Beisser remembers how she first got involved in Centro back in the day.
“My connection to Centro came through Park Bank. Pablo Sanchez was on the Centro board for awhile and Park Bank has always attended the [Centro Hispano] annual Gala,” Beisser says of the annual event that awards scholarships to talented young scholars. “I went to two or three different Galas as a guest for Park Bank. I knew that there were was this ‘Centro’ and there were a lot of Latinos coming together for this big party, but I didn’t have a lot of insight on all of the things they did.”
Beisser expressed interest in joining the Centro board of directors, and Oscar Mireles and Carlos Amarillo interviewed her and recommended her to the board of directors for Centro. And the rest, as they say, is history.
“I’m very thankful for Centro. I always say this to people: Before I connected with Centro, I didn’t have a sense of community here. I always felt like an outsider … like I don’t belong here,” Beisser says. “But once I got that connection with Centro and the community in a greater sense, I started to really feel like I had a place here. I felt like I really belong.”
On top of talking about what a difference that Centro Hispano has made in the lives of Wisconsin Latinos, Beisser will also talk about how Latinos have changed the culture, the food, and the flavors of Wisconsin.
“I talked to [historian and author] Sergio [González] to see if he had some information in his book about how Wisconsin Latinos have been harvesting the fruits and vegetables in the fields throughout Wisconsin and he gave me some great information there,” Beisser says.
González had shared stories at a previous History Sandwiched In lecture about Mexican citizens and Texas-born Mexican Americans who were recruited to work in Wisconsin’s agricultural, industrial and transportation industries in the mid-twentieth century.
When Beisser first arrived in Wisconsin from Venezuela back in 2001, it was very difficult to find food that she related to and the ingredients she needed to make food from back home. “Now, they are everywhere. We have so many more Latino restaurant and stores,” she says.
Beisser will have a google map pinpointing the expansion of Latino restaurants and stores. She will also talk about her popular blog and column – Five Senses Palate – and how she manages to find a healthy balance between her family, her job, her community work and her passion for cooking.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” she says. “It should be fun. I hope everybody finds it interesting.”
“History Sandwiched In – The Evolution of Centro Hispano and the Latino Flavors that Influence our Palate” will take place today, 12:15 p.m.-1 p.m. at the Wisconsin Historical Museum, 30 N Carroll St. There is a $3 suggested donation per person.
