In 2015, the first year Héctor Arguinzones celebrated Christmas in the United States, he longed to share his mother’s hallacas with his wife, Niurka Meléndez, and their son, Samuel.

Hallacas, a popular Christmas dish among Venezuelans, are made of corn dough mixed with chicken or beef and rolled with peppers, capers, raisins and olives into banana leaves. Every family has its ...

Making hallacas can be a two-day process. Once wrapped, the hallacas are tied with string before being steamed or boiled. Families prepare hallacas, a traditional meal that dates from 15th and ...

Maria Carolina Guilarte arrived in Chicago from Venezuela almost four years ago. Hallacas, a traditional dish, keeps her homeland alive in her heart. In a small living room on the Northwest Side ...