Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert

Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert (May 16, 1894 – October 14, 1991) was an American educator, nutritionist, activist and writer.

[3] Cabeza de Baca was born in and lived part of her life Las Vegas, New Mexico.

[6] As a young woman, Cabeza de Baca "refused to take on her 'proper' role as a Spanish lady" and spent her time riding horses and watching the ranch men work.

[7] Cabeza de Baca first attended a Catholic school, where she was expelled from Loreto Academy's kindergarten for slapping a nun.

[3] In 1929, she eloped with Carlos Gilbert, an insurance agent and member of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).

[3] Her husband's activism affected Cabeza de Baca, who became involved with Hispanic civil rights.

[14] While she recovered for a period of two years, she continued to write and eventually returned to work, visiting homes.

[6] In 1950, UNESCO sent Cabeza de Baca to Pátzcuaro to teach modern food and agriculture techniques to students.

[3] In her retirement, she continued to preserve Spanish culture and was involved with the La Sociedad Folklorica of Santa Fe.

[12] Her book, Historic Cookery, first published in 1931, collected traditional recipes from the area, emphasizing "basic New Mexico foods.

"[1] It was also one of the first Mexican American cookbooks that included recipes for chile sauce, masa, atole, panocha sprouted-wheat pudding, and menudo.

[11] In 1959, Cabeza de Baca and chef as the Alvarado Hotel worked to update the recipes in Historic Cookery to modern techniques.

[20] Her autobiographical narrative, We Fed Them Cactus (1954), describes the life of New Mexican Hispanos,[2] and documents four generations of her family.