“WHAT’S IN YOUR POCKET?”
“WHAT’S IN YOUR POCKET?”
Featured on Vivian Howard’s show “Somewhere South” on PBS.
Featured on Vivian Howard’s new show, “Somewhere South” on PBS. Watch “American as Hand Pie” here.
It wasn’t until a few years ago that I truly came to appreciate turcos, the tiny turnovers my grandma labors over every holiday season stuffed with thrice-cooked pork, raisins, and nuts. As cinnamon and anise waft through that sweltering South Texas kitchen, my mom, her sisters and cousins still try to sneak a fresh turc (as they lovingly call these pockets) straight off the sheet pan. “Only eat the ugly ones!” my grandma always yells. See, she stashes all of her perfectly roped empanadas for the big parties, a far cry from how they were originally eaten.
The Argentinian-born founder of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Quebracho Empanadas serves up a smattering of meal and snack ideas.
Today, Belén is the founder of Quebracho Empanadas, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based Argentinian empanada brand. When she first founded the company in 2018, she sold empanadas, other savory pies, and charcuterie at local farmers’ markets and pop-up shops. But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, she quickly pivoted her business to focus on selling wholesale, frozen empanadas through grocery stores and co-ops—a step that anyone in the consumer packaged goods industry will tell you is far from easy, pandemic or not. But for Belén, working the food industry runs in her blood.
In Astoria, a historically Greek neighborhood of Queens where baklava are as common as bagels, Cafe Boulis stands out. Panagiotis “Pek” Peikidis bought the cafe in 2016, but he’s quick to say it really belongs to his mother, Lemona Peikidou. Every morning, Peikidou walks the ten blocks from her home to Cafe Boulis at 4:30. She pulls spanakopita, tiropita (phyllo dough stuffed with cheese), and other pastries prepared the previous day from the fridge and starts her first bake.
Last July, I started deleting my instagram account daily. I’d download it in the morning and set a timer for 15 minutes before checking in, post a picture if I had one to share, respond to DMs and comments, comment on posts in my feed, and then delete the app until the evening, when I’d do the same thing all over again.
The Argentinian-born founder of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Quebracho Empanadas serves up a smattering of meal and snack ideas.
In Astoria, a historically Greek neighborhood of Queens where baklava are as common as bagels, Cafe Boulis stands out. Panagiotis “Pek” Peikidis bought the cafe in 2016, but he’s quick to say it really belongs to his mother, Lemona Peikidou. Every morning, Peikidou walks the ten blocks from her home to Cafe Boulis at 4:30. She pulls spanakopita, tiropita (phyllo dough stuffed with cheese), and other pastries prepared the previous day from the fridge and starts her first bake.
The Argentinian-born founder of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Quebracho Empanadas serves up a smattering of meal and snack ideas.
The World In A Pocket is devoted to exploring the world through the lens of a dumpling. From mandu to empanadas, spanakopita to gyoza, pierogis to pop tarts, this is our love letter to pockets worldwide and the stories they tell.
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