Conversation with Monica Fosado

Title

Conversation with Monica Fosado

Description

This interview features Monicaa Fosado, a vibrant member of Ottawa’s cultural landscape, sharing her personal passions, cultural identity, and community engagement rooted in her Mexican heritage. She pursued her academic journey in Canada at Carleton University, where she completed a master’s degree in journalism.

In her free time, she is highly active and engaged in personal hobbies that bring her joy and connection. She teaches salsa dancing at least once a week, and plays soccer regularly. She emphasized both physical activity and social connection as important parts of her routine. Food also plays a central role in how she maintains her connection to her Mexican heritage, regularly preparing traditional dishes such as tacos and quesadillas not only as meals but also as meaningful cultural practices. She also celebrates culturally significant traditions, such as the Day of the Dead, honouring the celebration's importance in Mexican culture. However, what stands out most is how she chooses to engage with her culture on her own terms. She maintains her cultural identity through food, language, and personal traditions, while also contributing to the community in her own way. She teaches Spanish one-on-one, helping others learn the language while sharing aspects of her culture in an informal setting. Her story offers an important insight into the diversity of immigrant experiences. While some individuals seek out strong cultural communities abroad, she demonstrates that cultural identity can also be maintained in more private, self-defined ways.

Her life in Ottawa is a blend of independence, cultural pride, and active engagement, showing that belonging does not always require a formal community hub, but can instead be created through everyday practices and personal choices.

Creator

Teagan Logie, Emma Rhéaume, Joshua Foreshew

Date

March 3rd, 2026

Format

MP3, 112 MB

Language

English

Interviewer

Teagan Logie, Emma Rhéaume, Joshua Foreshew

Interviewee

Monica Fosado

Location

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Transcription

Teagan: [0:00] Hello AnthroHarvest listeners, my name is Teagan Logie, and I'm here with my colleagues…

Joshua: [0:04] Joshua.

Emma: [0:05] And Emma.

Teagan: [0:06] As part of our anthropology course on Latin America and the Caribbean, with Professor Laurie Weinstein, we're conducting an ethnographic interview to highlight the diversity of Latin culture in the Ottawa region. So let's get right to it. Today, we're thrilled to be joined by Monica Fosado. Monica, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us! To start us off, would you like to introduce yourself?

Monica: [0:24] Sure! My name is Monica Fosado, and I have been in Canada and in Ottawa for almost 20 years. I came in 2006.

Teagan: [0:34] That's great. Well, it's very nice to meet you. Before we begin, please know that you're free to share as much or as little information as you feel comfortable. And with that being said, let's start off with an easy one. What is your country of origin?

Monica: [0:45] I am from Mexico.

Teagan: [0:47] And what brought you originally to Ottawa?

Monica: [0:50] I came to Ottawa because I really, really wanted to live in Canada more than a full year. So no exchanges, no trips, no backpackings. I wanted to live here. And the second reason is I got into a master's in journalism at Carleton University.

Teagan: [1:04] Do you have family here, and do you see them frequently?

Monica: [1:08] I do not have family here. I see them frequently online: WhatsApp, Facebook, video calls. Uh, we talk pretty regularly. We're close, and I try to visit once a year, sometimes, if I'm lucky, twice a year.

Teagan: [1:19] What celebrations would you say are most important to you?

Monica: [1:23] I like decorating my house all through September. It's Mexican Independence Day. I find it quite annoying that people think Cinco de Mayo is such a big deal. It is a holiday, I guess, but it's not big in Mexico. So in May, I make fun of people celebrating here Cinco de Mayo, but in my house, I celebrate September 16, which is Independence Day, which was versus Spaniards. And then another big holiday in Mexico is November 1, the Day of the Dead, uh, because we all have somebody that we wish hadn't left so soon. So it gives us a time to, um, look at photos, send a prayer and make crafts if we want, including the person's photo.

Emma: [2:07] So like, when you, uh, when you celebrate the day of the dead or the uh... during the month of September, what specifically do you like to... to do to celebrate?

Monica: [2:15] That's a good question, because it's not like I have, like, the army here or…

Emma: [2:20] Right.

Monica: [2:20] You know, I don't go singing the anthem all day. Um, we have something called papel picado, which is… paper is papel, and picado is like, like poking paper. And you might have seen in some photos of travelers in Latin America that there's, like, tissue paper of different colors, and it has like, little holes and stuff. (...) 

[2:39] So like, you bend, you fold it, and you cut figures, and then you open it, and it's like, like, figures and stuff. So what they do in Mexico is they... they cover everything with it in the streets and schools, etc. They have a picado that's green, white and red as the colors of the flag. And so I went home, and at some point I found it in the store back home, and I grabbed some and I folded and I packed it in my bag. And then this September, I just put it everywhere inside my house, in the kitchen. I took a photo, and I told my family, “look, I'm celebrating!” It's very silly, it's just for me, but when I came to the house, I was like, oh, it looks different! I think it's the equivalent of what people... they like to decorate their house for Christmas. It's like, oh, it's Christmas. I thought, oh, it's September in my house. And I didn't toss it. I saved it for next September. Yeah, those little rituals, right?

Teagan: [3:28] Is there anything else that you do, I guess, besides those individual celebrations to celebrate your heritage?

Monica: [3:36] Sure! I play soccer. That is part of my culture. Many countries, I would say. But in Mexico, you can find people playing bare feet with a bottle. You know, in the street, you don't even need a ball. So that's something I grew up doing, and I still do here, and I love it, because I don't even need to speak the language of the people I'm playing with, but it still makes me feel connected to my heritage.

Emma: [3:58] This is just something that I know about you, is that you… you teach salsa, right? Would you say that connects you a little more?

Monica: [4:04] I was just thinking about that just now.

Emma: [4:08] Did you do salsa in your childhood, or is it something you got into later in life?

Monica: [4:10] No, so... no, but I'm milking that cow really well, because people think, "Oh, you must have been born dancing salsa." (...) 

[4:19] No, so salsa, some of the musical elements of salsa came from Africa through the slave trade. They made it into Caribbean and through the American Dream, a lot of those Latin American immigrants went to the US when rock and roll was on, and they didn't kick anybody out of the states, they just added themselves. So that's why a salsa band will have all the rock instruments, and then some, the congas and the clave and all these other things. So, all this to say, salsa is from the United States of America, um, but because the music is in Spanish, now, you know it's, it's big in Latin America.
[5:00] There's two big dance styles, the LA style and the New York style. So people tend to obviously associate it more with Latin America, because music tends to be mostly in Spanish, now. All this to say one of the cousins of salsa, like the uglier and simpler poor cousin of salsa, is cumbia, and that's what we dance in Mexico. They have cumbia Mexicana, cumbia Peruana, cumbia Tejana, from Texas. So there's a little bit of overlap between both dances. But to be honest, what I was dancing when I was in Mexico was cumbia, you know, at parties and, you know, like every little girl, I had my flamenco in ballet classes, etc. And when I came here, that's all I had. And I got really curious through a roommate at Carleton University, there was a huge salsero, and he got me into salsa. So actually, salsa I took up here.

[5:47] Has it been convenient that I speak Spanish and then my business partner is from Havana and etc for our dance studio? It's super convenient. It somehow gives people that have this stereotype that it's all Latin American, you know, I don't have to change the color of my skin or something with listening, "Oh, the Spanish. Oh yeah, she must have been more dancing." It wasn't like that. But I don't hide it either, because this is exactly my point as a dance teacher. Anybody can learn to dance.

[6:14] It does bring me closer to my culture, however, because we are, in Latin America, we are touchy feely. We talk with our hands. We tell people, we "uh-huh", we nod, we rub some skin. And in this culture, it's not so well promoted, but when you're dancing, you touch people. So it helps me get that and get people around me to be okay with shrinking slightly their bubble for a good cause, which is, you know, mental health and being social, etc.

Teagan: [6:42] Can you describe for us a typical day in your community?

Monica: [6:46] Well, back home, it was different. I was living with my parents because I knew I was going to move to Canada and I didn't want to move out and waste time that I knew I would miss my parents like I do truthfully today, so I would study, or eventually, when I graduated, go to work, hang out with my parents, play lots of stuff with my parents. They're big card players and dominoes, and when I go visit, that's still the routine, we always play stuff. Here, of course, I have to adult some more. So go to work, take care of yourself, go to the gym. And I do think the distance makes the heart grow fonder, because I get to talk to my parents on the phone, adult to adult. What you did for your health, what I did for mine, how you paid for bills, how I paid for mine. And some advice that is different when you live under the same roof.

[7:27] I should say I am not super connected to other things that would be part of Mexican tradition, by choice. Mexico is ultra Catholic country. Never loved that. So here I don't go to church.

[7:38] So I think you create a different community, when you leave your country, and you get to kind of edit your culture and really go hard on the things that make me Mexican, for example, but also renege on the things that I never liked about my culture. I have a tattoo in my back, which is the symbol of the Mexican flag. It's what's in the back of every coin. It's an eagle eating a snake standing on a cactus, and I'm very proud of my heritage. But of course, the things I didn't like, I get to edit it again.

[8:07] I've shared with Emma before an example of I try to be really punctual whenever I can, because there's this expectation that Latin Americans and Mexicans are always late. So I always think for some people, for a few people, I will be maybe the only Mexican person they know. I don't want them to have that stereotype. I guess my community is something that I constantly get to create, in some ways with the distance.
[8:27] Actually connecting with this, it's... those things make me feel Mexican. I don't speak Spanish most of the day, so I could go days without mentioning I'm Mexican. When I initially came and I was bartending at Carleton, because that's where I was studying. You know, everybody likes to, you know, talk to the bartender and where are you from? And I would make people guess, and they would not guess Mexico right away. I have an accent, but still, people would be like Afghanistan, or like Iran or whatever. So that's why, on one of my first trips home, I got my tattoo, and I also wanted to make sure it was made in Mexico, you know, because it's normal here. Everybody's from somewhere else. We don't necessarily look or act the part, you know, like when I go home, I have certain expectations of humankind that my best friend is, like, "You're too Canadian, we don't do that here" or "You cannot expect people to be respectful like that, these are Mexicans" you know? So part of me feels like I have one foot there and here. So these little rituals are what I do to remind myself that I still want some parts, not all of that culture, you know. So depending, it's kind of utilitarian. When I'm here, I'm Mexican, and when I'm there, I'm Canadian. And it's kind of having two identities or none. But ultimately, it helps you connect with the people who you happen to be around.

Teagan: [9:41] That's fantastic. And actually, our next question ties to that a bit. What are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin community?

Monica: [9:50] Um, I would say an obsession with justice. I again, think that might be for other countries too. But every country has their own problems and situations they deal with. It's not that Canada doesn't, but I don't miss a lot of cases of, you know, corruption, not being able to trust the police, etc. So in some ways, I shy away from those and try to, I guess, create or adopt new habits. The other one is loyalty. I don't hang out with a lot of Mexican people here, but I do have a few very close to me Mexican friends. I'm not sure how to describe this value other than loyalty, but there's this thing called encargos. I don't know if there's a translation to English, but it's knowing that somebody's going somewhere that you would want to go and offering to get something for them.

[10:37] So for example, if I'm going to Mexico, I'll reach out to my guy or girlfriends from Mexico and tell them, Hey, do you need I don't know, this Mexican candy or medication or whatever. Sure, sure. I'll pay you back and I go and get it. Or if they go, it's not such a transgression as it would be in Canadian culture to ask them, "Hey, would you mind if I give you this, if you can get me a box of, you know, chocolates" or whatever. I could find it annoying if I'm not Mexican or endearing if I'm Mexican. This value that we have is this respect for other people's attachment to a place that you're from as well and wanting to bring a little piece of the culture back to them, since it's not around the corner, you know.

Teagan: [11:12] Yeah. So maybe I'll skip to one of our other questions just because it might be a good segue. So what foods do you make that remind you of home, and where do you purchase your groceries to prepare your traditional meals? If you do.

Monica: [11:27] Sure, yes, I do every day. I'm a big fan of quesadillas. I'll use this opportunity for anybody that's listening: they're called tortillas, not tortilla shells, just tortillas, okay? I always laugh at this. I think this an American thing, which is some sort of actual shell, and then whatever you put inside, you bite and it breaks. And I always tell people, Mexicans are not that stupid. We would never waste food. Our tortillas are made of corn, and they bend, and then they hold your food in place. So I love to make at home, just tacos with whatever, or quesadillas if you put cheese inside. I make them almost daily. They're easier to handle than bread.

[12:10] I, uh, make two things that might sound a little bit weird for you. They're my favorite dishes. One is called rajas. They are basically slices of pepper, but this is a poblano pepper, which looks like a jalapeno in color, but it's way bigger, kind of like a bell pepper, and it has a very specific taste. It's not necessarily spicy. So those slices, they're called rajas, and you cook them with slices of onion and cheese and corn, and you can put them in tacos and make rajas tacos or just eat them by themselves. And the other thing is nopales. Nopales are, um, cactus, actually, and they're quite delicious.

[12:50] The easy things like tortillas and salsa I can find in the international aisle of any grocery store, but, uh, for nopales and rajas, I have to go to a Latin food market. And there's not many, but there's a cute one in Vanier called Mercado Latino. And the lady that works there is amazing, shout out to Fernanda! There's very few places because they're very nichey. There used to be one in Somerset, and it closed, unfortunately. But, um, yeah, I have to go for quite the drive. It's still easier than go to Mexico to get my cans of things.

Teagan: [13:22] That's great. What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know?

Monica: [13:30] There's a huge diversity in culture of Hispanics. You know when people say, are you Spanish? No, I'm... I'm not from Spain. That's European, but I am Hispanic. I speak Spanish. So I do have friends here from Argentina, from Colombia. I love, I love engaging in conversation with them, because we automatically tune out slang and try to discuss in a version of what we think is going to be universal Spanish, and then when we start getting close to each other, we'll be like, "Oh, in Mexico, we say this, how do you guys say that?" "Oh, we say this like this." "Oh, in Peru, we say it this way." So I do want people to know that we have certainly a lot of commonalities, because we're Latin Americans, but we are not all the same, so I still find it very respectful when people hear Spanish and ask, "Hey, where are you from?" Not just assume I'm A, B or C.

[14:25] I just found out way later, embarrassingly, in my life, that I just assumed all Latin Americans ate spicy, and I used to be working with a Venezuelan family, and they're like, "No, it's just you." And I was like, what? They're like, "No, we don't eat that stuff." Like I thought all Latin America. So even I had some misconceptions.

[14:44] So yeah, I think that our language is a very beautiful one, that we're always super happy to help other people practice, but that we're not all the same, and that if we're living here, there's usually some sort of pain in not being able to be where we were born. So it's always a shame when you have to go really far, because it's better to live here, you know?

Teagan: [15:07] How likely would you and your family be to use the website that we are creating for uploading your stories, and how would you use it? We would like to better serve the community. So any suggestions from you about access as well as what should be posted, would be greatly appreciated.

Monica: [15:25] I would have to look at it first to make an informed feedback about that.

Teagan: [15:29] That makes so much sense. Do you have any other comments or concerns, or anything else you'd like to talk about?

Monica: [15:39] No, I'm not familiar enough with the project so that I could give an input. So I appreciate your time.

Teagan: [15:44] Yeah.

Monica: [15:44] Great question.

Emma: [15:45] Well, thank you for answering!

Teagan: [15:47] That's it on our list. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.

Original Format

In person

Duration

15:50