Finally, a museum that pays respect to Mexican food (in Los Angeles, of course)

Los Angeles is the best food city in the country (fight me), and now a museum there is devoted to one of its culinary pillars: Mexican food. Eater reports that LA Plaza Cocina, the city’s first museum dedicated to Mexican food, opened earlier this month as an extension of the Downtown L.A. cultural space, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. Eventually, the venue will host local chefs and traditional cooks, but the current focus is an exhibit about one of ancient Mexico’s great gifts to the world—a little something called corn. It’s worth noting that the museum wasn’t exactly celebrated by all. LA Plaza Cocina rubs shoulders with Olvera Street, a Mexican marketplace known as the birthplace of Los Angeles. Eater Los Angeles’ Bill Esparza wrote that when LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes announced the museum’s building plan—which also included a massive multiuse apartment complex—local community members raised concerns about gentrification and the likelihood that LA Plaza Cocina would take visitors away from Olvera Street. The popular tourist attraction has been hit hard by the pandemic. —Tina Vasquez