Masa Cooperativa — Fortunately Magazine

MAKING IT WITH MAÍZ

South Philly’s
quiet food revolution at Masa Cooperativa.

ISSUE 1: THE UN/MAKING ISSUE

Words by Lily Xie
Photography by Kenzä Bousseloub

During my visit to Masa Cooperativa's storefront at 1149 S. 9th Street in Philadelphia, I watched fresh tortillas emerge in shades of blue and white, their colors reflecting the day's unique corn mixture. Worker-owners ground the corn on a stone wheel, mixed the masa by hand, and shaped each tortilla with care—rolling the masa into small balls, pressing them in a metal tortilla press, and skillfully flipping them onto a hot grill. The scent of toasted corn filled the air as the tortillas cooked, their robust texture and rich, earthy flavor the star of the show. Delicious on their own or as the foundation for other dishes, the tortillas were packaged warm into bags that perfumed my car on the way home.

Alongside the tortillas, Masa offers organic masa, tortilla chips, guacamole, and salsa—all freshly prepared in their shared kitchen with People's Kitchen, an organization providing free, healthy meals in South Philadelphia. At their pop-ups in local markets, the process is just as captivating: the smell of fresh tortillas on the griddle draws small crowds around the worker-owners, who press each tortilla by hand while answering questions about their craft.

Through their deliberate sourcing of ingredients and worker-owned cooperative model, Masa demonstrates their deep commitment to both quality food and equitable labor practices. Historically, the food industry has long been built on extractive practices, including underpaying workers, depleting land resources, and delivering unhealthy products to consumers. These practices, which trace back to colonial agriculture and expanded during industrialization, persist today. Moving towards a regenerative economy means rethinking and remaking all aspects of the supply chain, including the broader capitalist pressures on supply and demand.

Masa Cooperativa is responding to this sore need for change in the food system through the production of organic masa and tortillas. The worker-owners prioritize regenerative practices throughout the entire process: from seed selection and cultivation, through harvesting and processing, to distribution and retail sales. In my conversation with members Carmen Guerrero, Jennifer Lee, and Ben Miller, a shared vision emerged around corn’s crucial role in revitalizing land, labor, wealth, and health.

Masa was established as a worker co-op to provide stable and dignified jobs for immigrants. Masa’s five worker-owners—Guerrero, Lee, Miller, Lesly Lopez, and Roxana Amaya—are advocates for immigrant rights. In the United States, commercial food systems depend on, yet simultaneously exploit, immigrant and undocumented workers. It is estimated that 1.7 million undocumented people work in every step of the food supply chain,¹ accounting for 21% of all food industry workers in the United States^.2 In particular, undocumented farm workers make up 50% of the agricultural workforce.³ Immigrant workers typically face low wages, long hours, and a lack of worker protections. Despite this, they provide critical food knowledge and specialized skills without which our food systems would fall apart. This gap between workers' expertise and compensation demonstrates why we need cooperative models that value both workers' rights and their essential contributions to our food system.

For years, members of the co-op have fostered relationships with local Indigenous seed keepers and elders to cultivate and harvest blue, red, and white corn, some of which were thought to have been lost for generations.

Worker cooperatives like Masa found that worker-ownership provided a solution to exploitative labor conditions, as business owners are not legally required to be American citizens. At Masa, worker-owners each have an equal vote in operation decisions and are paid out an equal share of project dividends. Guerrero shares, “The worker co-op is a project in this society where we can work as a member, which dignifies our work.”

In addition to worker co-ops providing a legal alternative to traditional undocumented labor, this structure creates pathways to leadership, wealth, and recognition for immigrant workers, who are frequently denied these opportunities. “What we see time and time again is that people are lacking not only certain basic rights but also lacking dignity at work,” explains Lee. “In our co-op, there is an underlying respect and trust among everybody. Everyone trusts that they are making decisions for the good of the co-op, from their own area of expertise. Everyone has different strengths, and when we all come together, we can make the best decisions together.”

Masa prioritizes dignity and ethical relationships in how they relate to land in the growing of their food. Masa works with local farmers to grow the organic corn that forms their eponymous masa. By growing with organic farming methods, these farmers earn more for their produce while also engaging in practices that care for the health of the land and workers. Additionally, the co-op supports the cultivation and revitalization of Indigenous Lenni Lenape and Mohawk red varieties of corn through their procurement practices. The goal is to reintegrate Indigenous corn varieties into the food supply and cultivate crops that are naturally adapted to their regional climate. For years, members of the co-op have fostered relationships with local Indigenous seed keepers and elders to cultivate and harvest blue, red, and white corn, some of which were thought to have been lost for generations. In the long term, Masa hopes that these growing relationships can help empower Indigenous communities and generate revenue for Indigenous populations. “That’s our vision, to use different varieties of corn and to work more closely with tribal communities,” says worker-owner Miller. “These things are all about building relationships over time.”

At the end of the day, Masa Cooperativa’s goal is to provide healthy food to their local communities. Masa is made through a process called nixtamalization, which softens the corn and activates its nutrients, preparing it for use in tortillas or other foods. From the Nahuatl word nextamalli, compounding nextli, "lime ashes," and tamalli, "uncooked corn dough,” the practice of nixtamalization has been used since as early as 1200 BC by Indigenous people including Mayan, Aztec, and Chibcha people. The co-op’s mission is to offer healthier, more nutritious masa products to the community. Guerrero, who also works as a certified nutritionist, explains the deep cultural and nutritional importance of corn, “Corn is a seed that has supported our civilization for thousands of years. I grew in my mom’s belly with corn because my mom is Indigenous Mayan and my dad is Indigenous Aztec. Corn made all the main dishes on our table. But when I moved to this land, I lost that kind of living, because the tortillas here are not 100% pure corn tortillas. There are a lot of chemicals in the corn flour. There is no nutrition. That makes us very sick.”

“Healthiness is not just about our individual bodies but also the healthiness of the people. Doing something together, producing our own food, is true revolution.”

Miller echoes Guerrero’s sentiments: “We want to see the standard of tortillas raised in our households, so children are growing up on better-tasting, more nutritious tortillas and more connection to their cultural heritage.”

Doing business ethically, in the right relationship to land and people, can be costly. Masa worker-owners experience this in the various costs of business—paying themselves and farmers a decent wage, growing organic varieties that produce less yield than typical commercial corn, skipping commercial chemicals to stabilize tortillas for storage, and making tortillas by hand. But these costs are not unique to Masa. “These challenges are shared by all entrepreneurs. We’re just not willing to take shortcuts by exploiting labor, cheap products, or anything like that,” Miller explains. “It makes it more difficult to do business. But it’s important for us to make products accessible so people can consume them. We believe in the power of the product that we’re selling ‘cuz it’s benefiting people’s lives.” In the immediate future, the co-op is looking for ways to streamline their process so they can keep their products affordable for all working people.

In its procurement, labor, and production processes, Masa is a microcosm of what regenerative food systems could look like. “Working in a co-op, we bring the richness of our culture, humanity, and communities, and we take care of the planet,” Guerrero says. “Healthiness is not just about our individual bodies but also the healthiness of the people. Doing something together, producing our own food, is true revolution.”

NOTES

1. Farmworker Justice. "Essential Workers in the Food Supply Chain." Center for American Progress, January 1, 2021. https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2021/01/01114806/EW-FoodSupply-factsheet.pdf
2. Julia Gelatt and Jeanne Batalova. "The Essential Role of Immigrants in the U.S. Food Supply Chain." Migration Policy Institute, April 2020. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/content/essential-role-immigrants-us-food-supply-chain

3. FWD.us. "Immigrant Farmworkers and America's Food Production: 5 Things to Know." FWD.us, March 2021. https://www.fwd.us/news/immigrant-farmworkers-and-americas-food-production-5-things-to-know/

This article appears in the UN/MAKING issue.