Melissa Guerra is an 8th generation Texan, born and raised on a working cattle ranch in South Texas. She is a self-taught culinary expert and food historian, specializing in the Americas, especially Texas regional, Mexican, and LatinAmerican cuisine. Her cooking show, The Texas Provincial Kitchen, was produced in San Antonio at KLRN, and aired on PBS. Guerra has worked as a bi-lingual spokesperson for Kraft, Coca-Cola, Goya and Mazola. A cooking course instructor and public speaker, Guerra owns andoperates a website and storefront, The Latin Kitchen Market, dedicated to providing top quality Latin American kitchenware and ingredients. Her newest store at the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio—also the location of the new Culinary Institute of America’s Center for Foods of the Americas—was designated as the #1 shopping destination in San Antonio, the #3 shopping destination in the United States by Lonely Planet Guidebook (2011). Guerra’s cookbook Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert: Norteño Cuisine of South Texas (Wiley, 2006) was a finalist for a James Beard Award in the category of Foods of the Americas, and an International Association of Culinary Professionals award in the same category.