Containing more than 200 recipes, this book is a chronicle of the development of Zarela Martinez's cooking, describes her childhood and the foods of her family, the influences of other regions when she went away to school, and continues up to when she opened her own restaurant, Zarela. In addition to the detailed information on what it means to be Mexican, and how that impacts on Mexican cooking, there are sections on the primary ingredients of Mexican cooking, both indigenous and imported, and the roles they play. Zarela also describes Mexican religious celebrations and the way Mexicans socialize and eat.