Food has a way of bringing people together. A familiar aroma can transport us to a grandparent’s kitchen, a favorite dish can evoke memories of family gatherings and the simple act of cooking alongside someone else can turn strangers into friends. School of Ranch is inviting Central Oregonians to explore those connections through a decidedly hands-on experience: preparing a traditional Mexican family feast, from harvest to table.
Leading the workshop, Culture & Food: Prepare a Mexican Family Feast, are nutritionist Mayra Santana and chef Oscar Molina, the husband-wife team behind Bend-based Roots at Heart Nutrition. Participants will follow the journey of a locally raised chicken, beginning with a humane harvest and continuing through plucking, processing and preparing pollo asado (grilled chicken). Then comes the best part: sitting down together to enjoy the meal they have created.
This is more than a cooking class. It’s an invitation to experience the cultural traditions, practical skills and shared values that have shaped Mexican family life for generations.
“We want this to be a true experience, just like our ancestors had,” Santana says. “This was part of everyday life for them, and we want people to step in and understand what it really means to have food on the table.”
For Santana, that understanding begins long before a meal reaches the plate. Learning where food comes from, how it’s prepared and how to use it thoughtfully can foster a deeper connection to nature, nutrition and the animal that provides sustenance. “We’re humans, and we’re part of nature,” she explains. “The more we connect with our food, the more we understand why it matters. We can make it last longer, get more nutrition from it and become more mindful of what we put in our mouths.”
The workshop will introduce participants to whole-animal cooking, including how to break down a chicken and make use of as much of it as possible. The goal is to minimize waste, with any inedible remnants returned to the soil to replenish nutrients. Participants are encouraged to take part in the harvesting process at whatever level feels comfortable, making room for curiosity and learning without requiring everyone to participate in every step.
The approach reflects the couple’s broader work at Roots at Heart Nutrition, where traditional foodways and nutrition education intersect. Santana is a board-certified holistic nutritionist specializing in digestive health and metabolic wellness, while Molina brings 18 years of professional culinary experience. Together, they speak English, Spanish and Purépecha, a language spoken by Indigenous communities in Mexico, and share a belief that food can be a powerful pathway to wellness and cultural understanding.
It can also be a way to keep family history alive. Santana points out that food traditions are often passed down informally, through observation and participation rather than written recipes or formal lessons. Children learn by watching parents and grandparents prepare familiar dishes, helping with the work and eventually taking on the responsibility themselves. Along the way, recipes become intertwined with stories, laughter and the memories of people who gathered around the table.
“Food holds our memories, and a lot of who we are is shaped by what we eat and who we eat it with,” she reflects. “Cooking side by side, especially a dish with family history behind it, gets people talking and laughing without any effort.”
That spirit of connection is central to School of Ranch, a Central Oregon nonprofit that brings community members together to teach practical and artisan skills in person. Rather than simply transferring knowledge from instructor to student, its workshops create opportunities for people of different ages, backgrounds and beliefs to discover common ground through shared interests.
“Every culture in the world values family,” says Mark Gross, School of Ranch founder and executive director. “It’s deeply rooted in our humanity, which has been the point of the School of Ranch — to teach skills and build a community of common interest.”
For Gross, the Mexican Family Feast also demonstrates how heritage skills remain relevant in modern life. Learning to prepare a whole animal, cook a traditional meal and reduce waste offers practical knowledge, while hearing the stories behind those practices provides a window into another family’s experience.
Santana and Molina make the cultural exchange especially meaningful, Gross says, bringing traditions and skills from their own lives and families, sharing them with a community that may be unfamiliar with the process.
“At School of Ranch, we teach heritage skills that still have practical value in everyday life,” he says. “Participants experience the whole food cycle from harvest to plate. The process of going from a living creature to your plate is a unifying experience that helps you appreciate the gifts brought to the table.”
In a time when conversations about immigration and cultural differences can feel increasingly divisive, Gross sees opportunities like this as a way to replace assumptions with firsthand experience. Working together toward a shared goal gives participants a chance to learn from one another in a setting that encourages cooperation rather than conflict. “During our workshops, people don’t fight,” he says. “Instead, it’s a chance to celebrate a common interest and explore different cultures.”
The afternoon concludes with a community potluck, extending the cultural exchange beyond the instructors’ family traditions. School of Ranch will provide the main protein while participants are invited to bring a favorite dish from their own family table. The result will be a meal shaped by many backgrounds and experiences, with each contribution offering another taste of what home means to someone else.
For Santana, that is part of the larger purpose of returning to traditional ways of preparing and sharing food. In a world increasingly removed from the origins of its meals, she hopes people will rediscover the satisfaction of nourishing themselves, caring for the land and building relationships through everyday skills. “We want our health to be simple, we want our food to nourish us and we want to draw closer to others that build us up,” she says.
On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, that philosophy will take shape around a shared meal, one that begins with a chicken raised close to home and ends with a table full of food, stories and new connections.
Culture & Food: Prepare a Mexican Family Feast
Sat., Nov. 21, 2-6pm
15400 SW Aquatic View Lane, Powell Butte
Tickets are $165, $185, $210 plus a $20 supplies fee
More info: schoolofranch.org
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