Chef Susan Baldassano will be presenting on Authentic Mexican Cuisine and Culture as part of the NEA Big Read celebration. She will be demonstrating how to make a salsa using traditional ingredients that is super easy to make. Susan Baldassano has served as Senior Director of the Chef’s Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute, NY, NY and director of "To Grandmother's House We Go Cooking Tours", which offered culinary and cultural tours to Oaxaca, Mexico and Sicily, Italy. She has been featured in National Geographic, The New York Times, The Daily News, The Washington Post, and Reuters. She has appeared in Molly O'Neil's New York on PBS, NBC News, and NPR.