Daniela Varela’s bagel trailer brightens up Zocalo Food Park in Walker’s Point. Like anyone who bakes or cooks for a living, the professional view is just a tiny portion of a person’s body of work. Varela gives us a peek at that rich cooking life with this recipe duo – for albondigas and aguachile. The former are meatballs native to Mexico, added here, according to tradition, to a soup; the latter is also Mexican in origin and is Spanish for “chile water.” Aguachile is similar to ceviche. It may even be a form of ceviche. But we’ll get to that. Delving into meaning, for Varela, is the connection to family.  

When she makes albondigas, Varela thinks of the woman through whose hands this soup became so powerful a reminder of sustenance, of comfort, of life: her mother. Picking up those skills in her 20s, she’s now “really proud to know how to make it for my family. It is so good – warm and cozy,” she says. Even in summer, when the last thing many of us want is something hot, she still craves it. A Milwaukee winter is of course the ideal. But you can’t just find it in any Mexican restaurant. That makes it even more special. “It’s not difficult to make,” she says, “but it’s only found in Mexican homes.”  

Passing down recipes such as for this soup – a “super important” part of Varela’s cultural and familial identity – will ensure it “isn’t lost,” says Varela. And for us, she’s written the recipe down for the very first time.