The new cookbook reflects the diversity of the Puerto Rican diaspora

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Puerto Rico, photographed for Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook. Erika P. Rodriguez/Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House hide caption

Puerto Rico, photographed for Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook.

Illyanna Maisonet's cookbook Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook doesn't fit neatly into one, set box.

Then again, neither does actually being a Diasporican — a member of the more than 5 million-strong tribe of "Ni De Aquí, Ni De Allá," as Maisonet writes.

Her book is a memoir, cookbook and retelling of Puerto Rican history and it's a testament to her life's work of documenting and preserving food throughout the Puerto Rican diaspora.

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Maisonet, a longtime food writer and the nation's first Puerto Rican food columnist, is herself Diasporican. She's the only child of her mother, Carmen (who was just 3 years old when her own parents arrived in California).

Maisonet, her mother and her grandmother (Margarita) all became cooks "out of economic necessity," the book details.

"We did not have the privilege of cooking for pleasure or joy. Our story is one of generational poverty and trauma with glimpses of pride and laughter, all of which have been the catalysts of ample good food in my life," Maisonet explains in Diasporican. She grew up in Sacramento, Calif., where the area's diversity influenced Masionet's "Cali-Rican" style of cooking.

Much of the writing in Diasporican pulls from her prior work in her San Francisco Chronicle column, Cocina Boricua. The column combined her matter-of-fact retelling of her personal story with recipes and other features.

Illyanna Maisonet as a child with her mother, Carmen Nereida Maisonet. Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House hide caption

That same writing, honest and weaved with ribbons of historical context, also appears in Diasporican. Maisonet includes 90 recipes; some are from her family, others are Puerto Rican classics, and still more are her own creations that rely on traditional flavors from the island.

Most importantly, though, Maisonet details how Puerto Rican cuisine came to be. She includes her deep research to give readers a broader understanding of where the island's flavors (an amalgamation of Taino, Spanish, African, and mainland U.S.) come from and how its food, culture, and people were shaped by immigration, conflict, and colonization.

With Diasporican, Maisonet celebrates the diversity that exists within the Puerto Rican community — itself tough to categorize.

"There are white Puerto Ricans getting radical and surfing in Rincón with sun-bleached blond hair, and Black Puerto Ricans with afros creating arts and crafts in Loíza. And everything in between. And our food reflects that diversity," Maisonet writes in her book.

Illyanna Maisonet Gabriela Hasbun/Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House hide caption

And this struggle often means no one knows anything about Puerto Rican food. Not even Puerto Ricans, she notes in the book.

Getting Diasporican published was a years-long process, owing in part to the lack of diversity within publishing and the lack of understanding of Puerto Rican food.