The connection between food and crisis is one of the open secrets of Salvadoran life, both in Los Angeles and beyond.
I ve understood this link since I was a curly-haired, pupusa-eating Giants fan who grew up in San Francisco hating the Dodgers and, by extension, all things Los Angeles. That changed in 1991, when I returned from fighting in the war in El Salvador and moved to L.A. where I started working at CARECEN, the largest Central American aid organization in the United States.
Roberto Lovato stands between his mother and father at his graduation from Horace Mann Junior High School in 1978. (Courtesy of Roberto Lovato)