The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García

Born in rural Mexico, Eduardo "Lalo" García and his family left for the United States when he was a child, picking fruits and vegetables from Florida to Michigan. He worked in Atlanta restaurants as a teenager, before being convicted of a robbery, incarcerated, and eventually deported. Lalo landed in Mexico City as a new generation of chefs were questioning the hierarchies that had historically privileged European cuisine in elite spaces. At his acclaimed restaurant, Máximo Bistrot, Lalo began to craft transcendent food that narrated his memories and hopes.

Journalist Laura Tillman spent five years immersively reporting on Lalo's story. What emerges is a moving portrait of his struggle to find authenticity in an industry built on the very inequalities that drove his family to leave home. Deeply researched and intimately told,The Migrant Chef offers readers an unforgettable window into the immigrant experience, Mexico's culinary heritage, and the making of a chef.