Mike and Ines learn how to cook some Puerto Rican Cusine

NEW YORK - Mike Woods and Ines Rosales took a cooking class at Essex Market on the Lower East Side to learn how to cook Pernil – roast pork and arroz con gandules.  

The cooking class is taught by Chef Maria Bido, a long-time Lower East Side resident who shares traditional Puerto Rican recipes she learned from her grandmother. 

The classes are part of a partnership with Essex Market and the Loisada Community Center called La Cocina de Loisaida. 

"We at Loisaida decided that there was a need to continue to share Puerto Rican recipes because we see it slowly becoming a dying art," Bido said. "The recipes are not being transferred one generation to another."

Classes are held twice a month.