Photograph by Guy Hand
Noel Agote-Herrera,
aDelfa’s Comida Cubana
“This is the way they’ve been cooking in my mother’s family for a hundred years. She had this sense of community and cooking for people.”
Chef Noel Agote-Herrera serves hot plates of delicious Cuban food at the Boise Farmers Market. He cooks in the style of the Guajiros, indigenous farm laborers of the Cuban countryside. He learned the techniques from his mother, Adelfa, “Nothing here is written down. This is me watching Adelfa through the years.”
Noel’s business is named for his mother who lost her own mother at five. She cooked for eight siblings, grandparents and the workers of their family construction business. “When there was nothing ‘habia arroz y frijoles’. When there was nothing, there’s rice and beans. So we put emphasis in our black beans. That’s why they’re full of flavor, full of love, just the way Adelfa would’ve liked it.”
He serves Carne con Papas (meat and potatoes), vegan Frijoles Colorados, fresh green beans, salad with tomatoes, onions and cucumbers, “And finish it all off, las mariquitas, green plantain chips, with plenty of salt and they go on top of the meal.” Most of the produce is sourced from neighboring market vendors.