ABOUT

The backstory: Maura and José met in 2005 while both were attending graduate school. In 2008, they got married and Maura gained a big extended family in Mexico. During the last several years, Maura and José have spent a lot of time in Mexico City visiting relatives and enjoying the culinary and cultural offerings of the city where José grew up.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TORTILLA is a Mexican cooking, culture and travel blog showcasing the original writing and photography of Maura Wall Hernandez. The name of the blog is based on the idea that you may have eaten something a thousand times, but if you just look at it in a different way (namely ingredient by ingredient), you’ll notice something new about it that you didn’t see before. There’s something to be said for tried-and-true traditional cooking, and this blog is Maura’s journey to reconstruct Jose’s family recipes as well as those learned from family friends and Spanish-language cookbooks to fill in the gaps, and to share the methods used to prepare traditional Mexican cuisine one recipe at a time.

Maura Wall Hernandez is a Chicago-based journalist and teaches journalism as an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College. Her work has appeared in a number of publications and online, and she has held editorial staff positions at the Chicago Tribune, Café Magazine, Advertising Age and Crain’s Chicago Business over the last decade. This site includes the personal opinions of Maura Wall Hernandez and does not reflect the opinions of her current employer.

Maura holds a B.A. in English from Miami University and an M.A. in Public Affairs Journalism from Columbia College Chicago. She serves as president of the Association for Women Journalists and is also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. You can find her tweeting about journalism, photography, food and more @MauraHernandez and sharing photos on Instagram by the same name.

All the photos on this site are copyright Maura Wall Hernandez and may not be used or reproduced without permission. All food and travel photos are her originals unless otherwise noted. The writing that appears on this blog is Maura’s original writing unless otherwise noted, and sometimes is edited by José. The text from this site also may not be used, copied or reproduced in any way without express written consent.