Angel Flores grew up on a farm in Mexico with the familiar smell of home cooked tortillas wafting through the air. “Whenever my mom would cook, I always got hungry because this smell is authentic. It makes you hungry. So you eat.”
Angel’s wife Leticia Torres also grew up on a farm and was taught how to cook tortillas when she turned eight years old.
Flores and Torres moved to the United States after they were married. “Coming to the United States was hard because – for us – the tortilla is essential,” says Torres. Flores explains, “The corn tortillas in the store are made without the corn germ. They add a little bit of lime and they have a flavor of tortilla. But they break, and they have to add preservatives to conserve them.”
Leticia Torres adds, “We said, ‘Geez, these aren’t good.’ We bought another kind. ‘Nope, not these either.’ We made them from flour. ‘Nope, not these either.’”
“My wife and I brought some seeds from California and some seeds from Mexico,” explains Flores. “My wife says ‘Listen, wouldn’t it be good to plant this corn and make our own tortillas?’ And I said, ‘Fabulous. Yes, let’s do that. It’s perfect. It’s a good idea.’”
They started their seed in community gardens. “Our tortillas were so delicious,” says Flores. “We started to offer them to some family members and friends.
They said ‘Hey, these are so good you should sell them.’” They called the business Tortillas Los Angeles. “My name is Ángel,” says Flores. “My son is Ángel. So my wife said ‘Well, let’s call it Tortillas Los Ángeles.’”
