host: hers is the chapter where craig claiborne does play a part. how did he affect her trajectory? mayukh sen: he was someone who championed her in the pages of the new york times. he positioned her as america's authority on mexican cooking. he put so much praise on her cookbooks in the new york times. he did the same for another figure in mexican cooking who now reigns supreme in the american mind. some american home cooks 90 familiar with the name diana kennedy. she went to mexico and was so fascinated with the food wave of that country that she started to document them. i think her first cookbook came out in 1972. that was around the time that elena passed away. that allowed kennedy to serve the previous decade. when you look at the story, i think you can see quite clearly how american memory functions. there is usually only room for one figure when it comes to certain cuisine. especially if that cuisine is not part of continental europe. in this case, diana kennedy has the right portion of being that person for mexican cooking. host: this happened after the car crash that kille