Iliana de la Vega

De La Vega grew up in Mexico City.^[3]

She moved to her mother's hometown of Oaxaca in 1997 where she opened El Naranjo. In 2012, she opened a location in Austin, Texas.^[3]

De La Vega served as the Mexican/Latin Cuisines Specialist for the Culinary Institute of America^[1] from 2007 until 2012.^[4] At the San Antonio campus, “she conducted research, developed curricula and taught undergraduate, graduate and continuing education courses on Mexican and other Latin cuisines while creating and launching the Latin Cuisines Certificate Program.”^[5]

With her daughter Isabel, she began Mexican Culinary Traditions which offers cooking classes and guided tours.^[6]