Abigail Mendoza Ruiz

Abigail Mendoza Ruiz (also known as Abigail Mendoza) is a Zapotec chef and co-owner of restaurant Tlamanalli, which she runs with her sisters, in Teotitlán del Valle, Mexico, near Oaxaca.

[1] She opened Tlamanalli in February 1990 in order to serve traditional Zapotec cuisine such as mole and squash blossom soup.

[2] In 1993, her restaurant received a write-up by food critic Molly O'Neill in the New York Times.

[1] She was profiled in Anthony Bourdain's series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, featured in a documentary about British food writer Diana Kennedy, and shown on a digital cover of Vogue Mexico and Latin America for the magazine's 20th anniversary.

[2][4][5][6] Mendoza Ruiz was born in the 1960s and learned to cook by watching her mother and aunt in the kitchen.