Coffee is one of the reasons that more Guatemalans are caught trying to get into the United States than migrants from any other country. According to the Washington Post , the falling price of coffee has made it so difficult to eke out a living growing beans in Guatemala that even premium fair-trade prices paid by large buyers like Starbucks can’t stop workers from throwing up their hands and risking everything for better lives in the U.S.
And for now, it is mostly Guatemalans coming through, happy to find a taste of home. “There is a lady that comes once a month from Rockford,” says Douglas. “And she always takes, like, 20 chiles rellenos, 18 pacayas, and ten chuchitos. She wants to take everything. She’s like, ‘I got a big family. I got a lot of mouths to feed.’”
It’s one of the more conspicuous snacks at Café Antigua, perhaps outdone only by what I consider a great achievement in cross-cultural culinary pollination: the tostada de chao mein. Supposedly the product of decades of Chinese migration to Guatemala, it’s a pile of stir-fried noodles, peppers, and cabbage showered with cilantro and cotija, needing nothing more than a dash of Ina brand soy sauce.
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