Meet Carmen Pacheco-Borden | Engineering Lecturer and Food Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carmen Pacheco-Borden and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carmen, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I was born in Mexico, and I am part of a large extended family. I am the oldest of four children, with two brothers and one sister. While in Mexico, my father was an electronic technician, and my mother was a hairdresser. In search for better jobs and educational opportunities for us, my parents immigrated to the United States in the summer of 1988. At the age of twelve, I began to develop new lenses to navigate a new world and, thanks to my parents, I embarked on my own pursuit of the American Dream. I learned English, studied hard, and against the odds, obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering. I am thankful to my parents’ ultimate sacrifice: leaving their families, friends, culture, and way of life for us to have a chance for a better world. As Mexican immigrants without college degrees, they had to start from scratch in low-paying jobs to make ends meet. I still remember translating for my mom when going to the medical doctor, or helping my dad fill out a job application. My parents had to weave themselves into the new community, neither knowing the system nor having the social capital to help us navigate the world of scholarships and federal grants. Despite all the challenges, I was very fortunate to find mentors that catapulted me toward college during high school. Looking back, my indomitable persistence always found the help that I needed. My parents instilled in me the unwavering immigrant spirit: to be prepared to take advantage of all the opportunities and not to take my U.S. citizenship for granted. As a non-traditional, first-generation college graduate in chemical engineering, I started my career in the petroleum industry and then transitioned to academia. Meanwhile, I started a family of my own. When my children arrived, I began to feel my roots pulling me back. I was losing touch with my own identity. I was neglecting my cultural heritage as a Mexican with Yaqui Native American blood. I discovered that it is not about assimilation, but about integration, which allows room for expressing one’s own authenticity, cultural values, and unique identity in a society as diverse as the US. Over the years, I discovered that food is key for bringing people of different cultures together. I take pride in my Mexican food heritage. I enjoy educating my children and the local Boulder community that Mexican food is healthy and vibrant.
My destiny is to bridge cultures through food. In 2002, when I lived in Davis, CA, I volunteered at Davis Community Meals and discovered that I really enjoyed cooking with and for others. In addition, when I visited the weekly Davis Farmers Market, I heard an inner voice imploring me to become a salsa vendor, but I quickly dismissed it as whimsical. In 2007, I moved to the Morningside Heights neighborhood of NYC, and this is where I learned that food really brings people together. I met wonderful people from Italy, China, Venezuela, Russia, Switzerland, Ecuador, Texas exemplifying our cultural diversity as Americans. After my third child was born, I started hosting dinners to bring families together. My friends really enjoyed my enchiladas and chile rellenos, which we cooked together. I realize now that when I was opening up to them, I was also giving them permission to do the same. From my Italian friend, I learned about her father’s risotto and authentic Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Observing my Chinese friends making dumplings reminded me of the communal activity of making tamales; both are pockets stuffed with a filling made in big batches to save for later. When we moved from NYC to Boulder, Colorado, we again joined an international community in the university’s family housing. We hosted dinners, and learned recipes and cooking techniques from each other. I learned about Peruvian aji amarillo and ceviche, Spanish paella, Dutch stamp pot, Iranian stuffed pumpkin with rice, Japanese sushi, and Korean kimchi. I also introduced them to my roasted tomato salsa, Sonoran style enchiladas, menudo and tamales. We visited the Boulder County Farmers Market (BCFM) and again, that inner voice implored “…sell salsa here at this market!” This time I had to listen. We all need a reason to wake up in the morning and to know that what we do matters in a profound way. In 2013, I decided to take a break from teaching at CU Boulder and embarked on a culinary journey to Oaxaca to learn my ancestors’ ways of making salsas and moles. When I returned, Carmen’s Salsa LLC was born.

Carmen’s Salsa was a calling, something that I had to do. Since then, I have traveled back to Mexico, as well as Panama, Colombia, Peru, Japan, Spain, England, France, Italy and India. These experiences allowed me to learn so much about food and culture. I feel proud to be part of the local sustainable food movement here in Boulder County. Carmen’s Salsa became a family business, where I teach my children how to cook, to source top-quality ingredients, make delicious sauces, setup and breakdown the booth, and sell at the BCFM. We established a growing number of loyal customers who appreciate and support the value of our freshly made, locally sourced products. Carmen’s Salsa was highlighted in the Denver Post, Daily Camera, Denver’s Channel 9 News, CU Boulder Home Page, Boulder Weekly, Yellow Scene Magazine and Big Girl Money Podcast.  Naropa University and KGNU Radio invited me to discuss local foods. I feel proud to have introduced traditional moles and salsas to Boulder. Now I want to bring what I have learned back to the classroom at CU Boulder.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Food science became a passion when I started my own Mexican salsa and mole business at the local Boulder County Farmers Market (BCFM). Since starting Carmen’s Salsa LLC, I have become a food entrepreneur, and in the process learned a great deal about local agriculture, product development, manufacturing processes, preservation, packaging, and regulations. I have grown to love this area of science. This is my eighth year of handcrafting and selling authentic salsas and moles in Boulder County.  I enjoy educating the local Boulder community that Mexican food is healthy and vibrant. I feel proud to have introduced traditional moles and salsas to my local community. I think it is very important to connect farmers, ranchers, and food producers to consumers. Thanks to Carmen’s Salsa LLC, the USAID Partners of the Americas Farmer-to-Farmer program recruited me to travel to rural communities in Panama to teach how to process tomato value-added products. In this part of Panama, close to 40% of post-harvested tomatoes go to waste in an area where more than 90% live in poverty. Using my engineering and bilingual skills, I led a team to set up temporary kitchens. We identified a source of potable water and stovetops for safe tomato processing. In a period of two weeks, we trained over 50 individuals. This was a tremendous, eye-opening experience, which reaffirmed my research goals to study food engineering and processing.

Following my B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering, I started my career as a process engineer in the petroleum industry and then transitioned to academia. I have been a Lecturer at community colleges in California and Arizona, Columbia University, and CU Boulder. I have taught chemical and mechanical engineering courses that require a high level of analytical and numerical analysis, data acquisition, and statistical methods. My lab courses covered a broad range of engineering subjects: from chemical synthesis to strength of materials. More recently, I have integrated food science and engineering into my teaching. For example, in my Chemistry for Energy & Materials Science class, I brought my students tomatillo and tomato salsas to discuss pH and acidity. In my first-year engineering projects course, I challenge my students to design for the local agriculture community. We design projects such as automatic drip irrigation systems, yogurt temperature-control modules, smart chicken brooders, and more. For my upper division technical elective course, I initiated a hands-on coffee class called “Design of Coffee”, following the pioneering work of Dr. Ristenpart and Dr. Kuhl at UC Davis. To prepare myself to teach this class, I attended the Espresso Academy in Florence, Italy, an intensive course covering the essential standards of roasting, brewing, and tasting coffee upheld by the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE). Through my connections at the BCFM, I met Dr. Kate Fischer, a Coffee Anthropologist at CU Boulder, to learn more about green coffee, farming practices and global sourcing. Kate has given guest lectures in my Design of Coffee course. The global aspect of coffee fascinated me, so I traveled to Medellin, Colombia, to visit the Eje Cafetero (Colombian coffee region). I learned that coffee beans grow in relatively poor countries, and those coffee growers – especially harvesters – make very little money and often get none of the value-added after roasting. The more I combine food with teaching, the more I realize that Sustainable Food Engineering is my true path.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would start with specialty coffee at Trident Coffee and Bookstore for a quick breakfast including a single origin pour over coffee! Then we would go to Chautauqua, the jewel of Boulder for a beautiful hike, then we would go have lunch at the Dushanbe Teahouse near Boulder Creek. For dinner I would highly recommend IL PASTAIO, a hidden gem next to King Soopers at 30th street and Arapahoe.  If I could, I would also invite them to my house for my very own specialty:  Chile Rellenos with roasted tomato salsa!

Place to go in Boulder if you stay longer
Pearl Street mall to buy gifts
Southern Sun for an amazing burgers and craft beer
El Dorado for a 5 mile hike try hike south Mesa Trail – stunning views
Mount Sanitas hike north Boulder

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family, my parents and extended family from Tucson Arizona and Nogales Mexico, my friends from NYC, friends from CU Boulder Family Housing and everyone who supported Carmen’s Salsa project. Kena and Mark from Ollin Farms, CU Boulder and the Small Business Development Center from Boulder Colorado. Cafe Poca Cosa from Tucson Arizona was a key inspiration for making freshly made moles.

Website: www.carmenssalsa.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carmenssalsa/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-pacheco-borden-5b094845/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/carmenssalsa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carmenssalsa

Image Credits
Slow Food Boulder County