Empanada Fest to feature empanadas and their 'cousins' from around the globe

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The fifth annual Empanada Fest, a Salt Lake celebration of hand pies from around the world, is happening Saturday.
The event will feature 15 vendors offering South American empanadas and their cousins from other countries around the world.
Other activities Saturday include music, dance and empanada-making demonstrations.

SALT LAKE CITY — In Latin America, they're called empanadas.

But the region isn't the only place you can get something akin to the treats, hand pies or turnovers with meat or some other type of filling on the inside.

The Middle East and India have samosas, Italy has strombolis, Asian countries have pot stickers. "They are all cousins," said Ana Valdemoros, who operates a Salt Lake locale offering empanadas in the style of her native Argentina, Argentina's Best Empanadas.

Accordingly, the food entrepreneur launched Empanada Fest in 2021 and the fifth annual installment is set for Saturday. It goes from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and will be held at Square Kitchen, 751 W. 800 South, a Salt Lake culinary incubator also operated by Valdemoros.

"Why not (offer) more empanadas from different countries and build that bridge between cultures that can only be done through food?" she said.

What people in Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Peru call empanadas may have different names, spices and shapes in other countries around the globe, she said, "but it's the same concept."

Empanadas in the style of Latin America come in different forms. But depending on the country, they have a flour- or cornmeal-based crust and a spiced concoction of meat in the middle, most typically, that can be either baked or fried. There are vegan and other versions as well, limited only by the imagination of the chef.

Ana Valdemoros, organizer of Empanada Fest, holds three empanadas at her own locale, Argentina's Best Empanadas in Salt Lake City, on Wednesday. (Photo: Tim Vandenack, KSL.com)

"It's almost like a hand pie, a hand-held pie or pocket," Valdemoros said. Given the wide variety that will be on offer at Empanada Fest, "you can do a trip around the world in this fest if you will."

Fifteen establishments, most of them smaller operations, are to take part, representing the empanadas and their counterparts from a broad range of countries and regions — South America, Jamaica, Mexico, the Middle East, Italy, Japan, Thailand and more.

South American-style empanada locales have increasingly started popping up in recent years at farmers' markets and in food trucks around Utah, Valdemoros said, and it makes her beam with pride.

"If more empanada businesses are popping up, it's because people support the businesses and are liking the products," she said. "I have fond memories growing up, putting empanadas together and seeing my grandmas make their dough from scratch and their way of making them and their spices."

Apart from food, the Empanada Fest will feature music, traditional dance groups from Argentina and Mexico, demonstrations on how to make empanadas and more. Three judges, Salsa Queen founder Maharba Zapata, blogger Eli McCann and Nichole Mathews, the market manager for Salt Lake City's Downtown Farmers Market, will weigh in on the best empanadas on offer Saturday.

Photos

Ana Valdemoros, organizer of Empanada Fest, holds three empanadas at her own locale, Argentina's Best Empanadas in Salt Lake City, on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. - Tim Vandenack, KSL.com

Show All 2 Photos

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.