From a backyard garden to classrooms in Glendale, Proyecto Xilonen (pronounced “shee-LOW-nen”) is growing more than food. They’re growing knowledge, resilience, and cultural pride. Thank you, Proyecto Xilonen, for showing Salt Lake City the power of honoring our roots to nourish our future. Read on to learn more about this community leader and a 2025 recipient of our Community Food Microgrant Program.
Proyecto Xilonen started in 2023 by couple Chef Jean Carlos Mendieta, a Nicaraguan native and gastronomer, and Evelyn Cervantes. They wanted to educate the Salt Lake City community about the history and importance of maize (corn) and other native ingredients in Mesoamercian culture.
At their home, Jean and Evelyn grow everything from maize to squash to beans, which they plant using the Indigenous “Three Sisters Method.” They grow the three crops in one plot in a symbiotic and sustainable way.
As an immigrant father, Jean is passionate about staying connected to his roots and passing on the rich traditions to his daughter and the Salt Lake community. Proyecto Xilonen is named after the Aztec goddess of new maize (corn), fertility, and renewal.
At a pop-up kitchen inside Picnic Cafe three night a week, Jean brings Indigenous dishes to life using native Mesoamerican ingredients like squash, tomatoes, chiles, and edible flowers through dishes like corn silk tea, Nicaraguan-style guacamole, and maza with mole.
Proyecto Xilonen uses edible flowers like marigolds, amaranth, and squash blossoms in each of their dishes. Flowers play a major role in Mesoamerican culture, and are often used as sacred flowers, perfume, medicine, seasoning, and food.
Sustainability is at the heart of Proyecto Xilonen. Even their backyard chickens play a role, eating restaurant scraps that are brought home. Banana peels are turned into fertilizer for the tomatoes. Crushed eggshells are added to squash plants to prevent end rot.
They used their SLC Community Food Microgrant to teach workshops about pollination, maize and Mesoamerican cooking to students at the Dual Immersion Academy in Glendale, as well as to adults at Picnic Coffee Shop in Liberty Wells. By teaching these traditions in local classrooms and in the community, Jean helps preserve cultural heritage while inspiring the next generation.
“Gardens are spaces where families can work together and heal, and where individual members of society can connect with their community.” – Evelyn Cervantes, Proyecto Xilonen