Mexico City Restaurant Hosts Global Women Chefs This March

Four extraordinary dinners are bringing the world's flavors to Mexico City this March, and every single chef behind them is a woman.

Masala y Maíz, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Mexico City's historic center, is hosting a month-long series honoring International Women's Month. The lineup features acclaimed women chefs from London, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Oakland, each partnering with Mexican culinary masters for one-night-only collaborations.

The restaurant itself is already known for bold fusion cuisine. Owners Norma Listman and Saqib Keval blend Mexican, Indian, and African flavors into dishes like Indian samosas filled with slow-cooked Mexican beef and corn esquites drowned in East African coconut curry.

Now they're taking that spirit of cultural exchange even further. The March 4 dinner featured Asma Khan from London's Darjeeling Express alongside Rosalba Morales Bartolo, a renowned Purépecha master-cook from Michoacán who specializes in ancestral techniques.

On March 11, Heena Patel of San Francisco's Gujarati restaurant Besharam cooked with Ji Hye Kim, a Michigan-based Korean-heritage chef, and Claudette Zepeda, a culinary anthropologist who works between San Diego and Tijuana. March 18 brings Haitian-American chef Cybille St. Aude-Tate together with Mariela Camacho, who was named one of Food & Wine's "Best New Chefs" in 2025.

The final dinner on March 25 pairs Cambodian-American chef Nite Yun with Palestinian-Syrian chef and activist Reem Assil. For most of these chefs, it's their first time cooking in Mexico City.

The Ripple Effect

This series represents more than just great food. Since starting as a community kitchen in 2017, Masala y Maíz has shown how restaurants can be spaces for sharing ideas, cultures, and social values alongside meals.

"We have been doing a celebration for International Women's Month since we started," says Listman, who grew up in Texcoco. This year's expanded vision brings together chefs who often work with diasporic and marginalized food traditions.

Each dinner includes five to six courses plus a welcome drink, with menus designed to highlight Mexican ingredients through international perspectives. The team is working to keep prices accessible so more people can experience these collaborations.

"Meeting the chefs and cooking together is so exciting, not only for me, but also for my team," Listman says. "Learning and being in community in the kitchen, preparing something super special for everyone."

These dinners prove that celebrating women's achievements tastes even better when shared across borders and cultures.