Esther & Benny

Esther Truzman is half Spanish and half American. She is a Spanish Language lecturer at New York University.

Benny Chueca was born in Peru. He has a Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literature and teaches Spanish at colleges and universities in New York. As a writer, he has published in newspapers and magazines in Peru and literary magazines in NYC.

There’s a sense of bare intimacy in the act of both physically and metaphorically being invited into a space. The intimacy of a space can be momentous or continuous, but it’s always bred by the same things–intention and genuine interest.

Each time we open ourselves to enter a space it’s because we feel comfortable–because we feel important and valued–it’s a door that’s opened by someone that allows us to take a step back and marvel at the fact that “maybe our stories matter.” Much like discussions of representation in media, politics and social situations, “micro” moments of one-on-one exchange matter.

This was the case as we sat down to a uniquely neoyorquino Papas a la Huancaína in a 12th-story Lower East Side apartment that was meant to be a temporary home, as many of us believe New York City to be. The essentially Peruvian yellow pepper base is scavenged in Queens, melt-in-your-mouth potatoes have traveled many thousand miles from el Perú and the unbeatable texture of queso fresco has been lovingly replaced with Greek feta in the most “melting-pot” personification imaginable. And, at the confirmation of our hosts, the dish still tastes like home. Home for Benny is originally Perú, but the sense of the word, much like a teenager, has metamorphosed into a more complex meaning, encompassing his experiences in the San Felipe barrio of Lima, Greenwich Village, Brooklyn and the Lower East Side. For Esther, this dish personifies a new home in the Lower East Side with Benny.

The conversation takes us from kitchen preparations with fond descriptions of a mother’s recipes, to the dining table--where we trace back personal trajectories and reflect on reinvention (because what is reinvention if not a reflective state?)--to the living room, where the root of politics and economics come alive. We find that Esther’s reflection of teenage reinvention after moving from Spain to her mother’s native Brooklyn at twelve brings back memories of moving rather than immigrating. On the other hand, after a storied career in journalism, Benny found a new passion for literature in the cultural haven of New York and pursued professional reinvention with a master’s degree and, currently, a Ph.D.

The night wraps up as naturally as it started, with an empty bottle of wine to signal that our parting ways had begun. With our minds full of new perspectives and a rediscovered appreciation for a city that brings people together as often as it does new and unexpected ingredients, we head home to recommence the daily process of reinvention.

Text by Molly Rockhold