Summer Solstice and Puerto Rican Food Fest held other surprises

By jeanne starmack

starmack@vindy.com

youngstown

To the untrained eye, a Puerto Rican pastelillo looks like a close relative of the Mexican chimichanga, but make no mistake — Mexican and Puerto Rican food are not the same.

Nancy Crespo knows. Half Puerto Rican and half Mexican, the Columbus woman gets to have it all — though she confesses liking Puerto Rican food best for its authenticity.

“When you get food from people like this,” she added.

Around Crespo and her family, including her parents Tony and Maria Crespo of Youngstown, people at the Taino Summer Solstice and Puerto Rican Food Fest munched on arroz con gandules, or red rice with pigeon peas, arroz blanco y habichuelas, or whate rice and beans, and pernil, or pork.

The event, at the OCCHA Hall on Shirley Road Saturday, was paired with the Hispanic social service agency’s celebration of a new wing on the building that will be a senior and youth center,

People who attended the celebration were educated too about a part of their heritage — the Taino Indians.

For the complete story, read Sunday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.