The Humble ‘Struggle Meals’ That Keep Latino Families Standing

There is a certain poetry in the sound of rice hitting a hot pan. It is the music of survival that many Latino households know too well. Growing up, I learned early that a meal does not need luxury to taste like home. It only needs creativity, patience, and a little bit of love. Ours was a Colombian household that knew how to stretch a dollar and still sit down together for dinner. Today, we call them “struggle meals,” though there was never shame in them. They were small celebrations of resilience disguised as comfort food.

The Reality of the Kitchen Table

In moments when economic uncertainty takes hold, those recipes return with quiet urgency. The recent government shutdown left many families waiting for their SNAP benefits to be restored. But hunger does not wait for bureaucracy. People still have to eat. I have been both the child and the adult who relied on SNAP, and I say this without apology. Those benefits kept food on our table and gave me the energy to study, to work, and to contribute to my community. If you find yourself judging anyone for using that assistance, step down from your high horse. Dignity is not measured by income or the contents of a grocery cart.

Latino Struggle Meals That Taste Like Resilience

Our house smelled of rice and eggs most mornings. Fried egg on top, ketchup drizzled like a secret ingredient and a banana on the side. It was simple, cheap, and absolutely perfect. Another favorite was sopa de huevo, a humble bowl of broth with potatoes and cracked eggs floating like soft clouds. It filled the stomach and soothed whatever ache the day carried.

@anislandtodiscover

Always hits the spot 😋 #mexicanbreakfast #desayuno #huevosconwinnies #huevoconwinnie

♬ Cuatro Milpas – Antonio Bribiesca

Every Latino household has its version of these meals. For some, it’s huevos con weenies or a stack of tortillas turned into tacos or tortas. Others lean toward sopa de tortilla or enchiladas. Beans and rice, the holy union of the Latino kitchen, can become breakfast if you know what to do with leftovers (in Colombia this is a called a calentado). Add an arepa, tortilla, or avocado, and you have a meal that tastes like home. These dishes remind us that flavor has little to do with extravagance and everything to do with memory.

A Lesson in Community

There is a quiet strength in feeding yourself through hard times. Latino households have long understood how to make food stretch and still make it feel abundant. The skill comes from generations who turned scarcity into art. It is a form of resistance too, a way of saying that even when times are uncertain, we will gather, we will eat, and we will care for each other.

The table might be small, but it holds the weight of our stories. Rice and eggs, soup and beans, tortillas and laughter. These are the things that keep us steady when the world feels uncertain. They are the reason we survive, and the reason we still sit down, say buen provecho, and eat together.