Sometime during the beginning of November in Puerto Rico and around the diaspora, families come together and make a party out of making pasteles, tender and savory masa stuffed with stewed pork and ...

“There’s no holiday if there’s no pasteles,” said Franqui-Rivera, 45, who, like many members of the Puerto Rican diaspora, used to tote them back to the mainland frozen in his suitcase — until he ...