Sarabia's father is from the Mexican state of Sinaloa, while her mother is from Puebla. Sarabia was born in the U.S. but "we say I was raised in Mexico," she says. "I grew up in the States, but my dad was big on influencing us about the Mexican world. Even though we grew up here and were born and raised here, he made sure we spent time in Mexico — our summers were in Mexico. As soon as we were out of school, Dad would be like, 'Let's go!' and he would drive us to Mexico in this huge van. We got to explore a lot of Mexico. Dad took us to every state there was in Mexico."
Her mother, Sarabia adds, "has been my biggest inspiration because there were ten of us in the household — my parents and then eight of us kids. My mom cooked pretty much every day. She would put together tamales and she would do every dish that she could bring from Puebla. My favorite dish she made was mole poblano, and she made it from scratch."
While she spent a lot of time watching her mother cook when she was younger, Sarabia's interest in cooking became a passion as she got older — and especially after she became a mother herself. "I started to put together recipes, and then I just started asking my mom, 'What do you do when this comes out? Or what do you do when this is ready?'" she recalls. "I started to just kind of mess with things. ... I wanted to be in the kitchen for ten hours a day."
Although Sarabia didn't have any experience working in restaurants other than a fast food job as a teenager, she began to dream of opening a food business of her own during the pandemic. "If I can't get a restaurant, what about a food truck?" she remembers thinking. "At first my husband was like, 'No, you're nuts.' But I started talking to him more and more, and I told him, 'I know I can do this.'"
In February 2022, Sarabia officially launched Talavera Cocina. "Talavera is the Mexican pottery that comes out of Puebla. It was born there, and then my mom being from Puebla and just that inspiration," she says of the name. "We're all kind of a whole huge Talavera. We're all put together with these beautiful pieces, and we become one big, huge, beautiful, colorful piece."
Talavera offers loaded waffle fries loaded with nacho cheese, cilantro, onions, guacamole, sour cream and a choice of meat.
Chris Byard
She adds, "I also really like our al pastor and carnitas," which can be added to options such as waffle fries or mac and cheese. "These dishes are like our [American] upbringing, and then here we come and we add the Mexican side to it and load it with meat, cilantro, onion and sour cream."
Sarabia 's future plans include bringing more than just food to the community. "Merchandise is definitely in the works," she says. "I really want to embrace my mom's side and bring Talavera pottery and other goods from Mexico. If I can't have a restaurant, then I'd like to have a small storefront that could be the Talavera Merchant and then have the food truck that would go out and do its thing."
Talavera Cocina typically operates Monday through Friday. Follow it on Instagram @talavera_cocina for its schedule.
