Appalachia has a booming Hispanic business and population — and its growing food scene is making an impact

Mic

"As Hispanic businesses and populations swell, and rural grocery stores begin to stock shelves with everything from queso fresco to bilingual lard containers."

From strip malls to historic downtown landmarks, buildings across Appalachia today are telling stories of a changing region. Former nail salons, once-stately banks and empty storefronts are beginning fresh chapters in their lifecycle as Hispanic business, groceries, Mexican restaurants and Latinx-operated small businesses.

“I never really thought I would be doing this — that I would be able to build my own business in America — but here I am, you know?” said Misael Nuñez, co-owner of Tres Hermanos Nuñez, a small chain of Mexican-Appalachian restaurants.

I spoke to Nuñez in Grayson, Kentucky, as he watched his daughter gallop around his restaurant, dressed to impress in a Cinderella costume. His restaurants are located in a tight corridor of the region where southeast Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky meet, and Nuñez is a prime example of the rise in Latinx entrepreneurship in the region. But he’s not only a businessman: Nuñez is among the leaders helping to construct a new narrative of Hispanic-Appalachian culture in places that are often portrayed by national media outlets as sweepingly white and homogenous.

The Hispanic population boom began in the 1980s, when the percentage of immigrants who moved into Appalachia between 1985-1990 made up a whopping 34% of the region’s total Hispanic population in the 1990 census. Between 2000 and 2010, the numbers continued to soar, with a 121% overall increase in the Hispanic population region-wide. And in some states like Tennessee, the numbers have been even more staggering: The number of Latinx-Appalachian residents there increased nearly 145% in the same time frame, compared to states like Ohio and New York, which showed roughly 52% and 53% increases, respectively.

READ MORE

Subscribe today!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Must Read

Autism now more common among Black, Hispanic kids in US

Victor Landa March 27, 2023

For the first time, autism is being diagnosed more frequently in Black and Hispanic children than in white kids in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said […]

The EPA’s soot pollution update falls dangerously short for Latinos

Victor Landa March 12, 2023

On Jan. 6, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposal to strengthen the annual standards for fine particulate matter, commonly known as soot, from 12 ug/m3 to between 9 and 10 […]

Republicans are winning more Latino votes. But rising turnout still benefits Dems.

Victor Landa

The red wave never came to pass in 2022 — but there was a noticeable shift among Latino voters in the midterms, who still tilted toward Democrats overall but reached […]

Opinion: In Hollywood, Latinos are still waiting for their close-up

Victor Landa

Carolyn Curiel served as a U.S. ambassador and White House senior speechwriter in the Clinton administration. Latinos will be an integral part of the Academy Awards on Sunday. You likely […]

Latino Republicans push back on party’s immigration agenda

Victor Landa March 15, 2023

MIAMI (AP) — More than half of the residents in the slice of Miami that includes Little Havana were born abroad. And when Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar ran […]

Young Latino leaders unlikely to see Jews as targets of systemic discrimination, says poll

Victor Landa March 20, 2023

Latino millennial and Gen-Z thought leaders are increasingly unlikely to see Jews as the target of systemic discrimination, according to a new survey commissioned by the American Jewish Committee (AJC). […]

Racial equity news coverage of Latinos is lacking, a new study finds

Victor Landa

Latinos are barely part of the conversation in newspapers and online media outlets covering the issue of racial equity and racism, a new study has found. Only about 6% of […]

Latino families face tough circumstances with ballooning college debt

Victor Landa March 15, 2023

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on palabra, the digital news site by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. By Rich Tenorio Iliana Panameño wanted to get a master’s degree in social […]