DATE: Thursday, September 18th, 2025
TIME: 6pm – 6:30pm
LOCATION: 401 Riverside Dr. W, Windsor, ON
COST: This event is part of AWE at Night
Accessibility: Accessibility and accommodation requests must be made at least two weeks in advance of the event. Please contact shinch@artwindsoressex.ca for questions.
Mexican gastronomy is world-renowned and a major element of Mexico’s culture, yet many of its secrets and diversity remain under the surface from a first curious approach. During this conversation, Consul Baez will introduce the audience to some contextual facts about Mexico and briefly explain its cultural diversity, which gives rise to its rich gastronomic mosaic.
Chef Ricardo Muñóz will present the cornerstone ingredients of Mexican cuisine and its regions, highlighting its diversity and that it is one of the very few cuisines recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural World’s Heritage. Sonia Cortes, a cook from the state of Michoacán in Mexico, will share how she learned traditional recipes and techniques in a very rural setting, and harvested the ingredients locally.
A short video will show traditional and contemporary culinary expressions, inviting the audience to discover its most authentic secrets and experience Mexican food with all their senses.
Moderated by Rodrigo Báez
Speakers Ricardo Muñoz and Sonia Valdez
Rodrigo Báez was born in Mexico City. He studied Law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and holds a Master of Laws degree in Public International Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands, as well as a Postgraduate degree in US Law from the University of New Mexico.
He has been a member of the Mexican Foreign Service since 2012 and during his diplomatic career, he has been posted at the consulates of Mexico in Albuquerque, Sacramento, California, and Chicago, and at the Embassy of Mexico to Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Rocardo was born in Mexico. He studied Culinary Arts at the International University of Tourism, and through the years he specialized in Mexican Cuisine. He worked as private chef in Mexico and Australia and he is currently working as a chef at Jose’s Bar and Grill Restaurant in Leamington, Ontario, Canada.
Sonia was born in Michoacán, Mexico. Since she was a child, she has loved cooking; she used to help her grandmother prepare meals on a wood-fired stove. Sonia is the owner of two restaurants and a catering company in Leamington called Sonia’s. She feels proud to live in Canada and to have been able to open her restaurants where she can share and celebrate the rich Mexican gastronomy. She has three children: Abraham, Evelyn, and Rosvelina.
