Maria Mata, Spanish Lab Coordinator with Del Mar College, demonstrated the simplicity of making flour tortillas from scratch to a full house during a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Coles Classroom Building on Heritage Campus Oct. 10.

All it takes is four cups of flour, one teaspoon of salt, half a cup of warm water, half a cup of shortening, and amor (love) to create this versatile traditional Mexican food. The base of popular dishes such as tacos, quesadillas and buñuelos.

Spectators were offered the chance to make their own tortillas. Dough and rolling pins were passed out for a hands-on experience. The room filled with the smell of tortillas as participants cooked up their dough for a tasty snack.

Mata has been making tortillas all her life.

“It’s a tradition,” she said, that she would make tortillas with her mother and grandmother since she was young.

Sylvia Almaguer, with the Del Mar Call Center, had the same tradition growing up. Almaguer attended the seminar to ask about the process to “learn to make [tortillas] the right way,” a tradition that Mata has now passed on to the next generation of college students and peers alike.

For more Hispanic cultural activities, Mata encouraged spectators to visit the Spanish Language Lab, Coles Building Room 106. The lab offers speaking sessions and grammar sessions to students. The Spanish Language Lab’s hours of operations are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.