The Juicy Details

Growing up I was always fascinated by cooking, to me it felt kind of like a science experiment. I enjoyed the trial and errors and figuring out food science and learning why certain ingredients worked the way they did. My family and I joke about it now on how I was always meant to cook. When I was a toddler I would frequently take sauces and spices from the kitchen and take it to my room to my fisher price play kitchen, and I would season my plastic pretend food. I would then serve my mom and wait for her reaction.

Being the eldest sibling in a Hispanic household one of the ways I helped around the house was by cooking for my family. I first got excited about cooking when I was in elementary school learning to make very basic things like oatmeal, scrambled eggs and maybe some mac n cheese. I started to fall in love with the Food Network and cooking shows trying my best to learn from them. I would then give my mom a little grocery wish list so that way I could make some of these dishes I saw on TV at home. It wasn't after much time that my family really liked me taking over the kitchen and enjoyed what I prepared for dinner and my mom told me, "if you keep cooking like that, i'll get whatever you want from the store" of course in moderation.  

When I was growing up I spent some time volunteering with my mom with an organization that sought to help undocumented farm workers get access to things they need and overall support. In these experiences I learned a lot about where food comes from and how. Once I saw the reality of farm workers and animal agriculture I couldn't eat a meal the same way without thinking of the people who were working out in the fields, exposing themselves to harsh chemicals and the beating sun or the animals that were brutally killed for our consumption. By age 12 I told my parents with full conviction that I was going to be vegetarian. In our Puerto Rican-Mexican household they couldn't believe I was serious as meat was very prevalent in our diet. About 3 years later I learned about veganism and the dairy industry and yet I was compelled to make another life change. Giving up cheese. All my life I had been fighting with my weight, asthma, eczema, and acne. I knew if I listened to my body and gave up dairy that maybe that could just be the secret. Wildly enough after about a year I lost 60 pounds, my acne and eczema went away and I didn't need my inhaler anymore and I felt better than ever. 

Year 15 was the big game changer. I went to a fancier vegan restaurant and was amazed by the menu and how they made everything in house, completely vegan. I said to my family unknowing that the owner was behind me "I wish I could work here just to get the chance to work in a vegan restaurant learning to make food like this!" she told me if I was really interested that I could come in the next day at 2pm and if the chefs liked me that I would have a job. To say that I was excited would be an understatement. So I came in the next day as a home cook and to my surprise the rest of the kitchen was ready to show me the ropes. How to dress for work, how to hold a knife, and of course how to cut an onion....the right way. I think I realized immediately that this is what I wanted to do forever. It never dawned on me that I could do this for a living. I came in as much as they would let me, learning as much as I could. When it came time to graduate high school I knew that culinary school was my next step to advance my career. 

Since growing up, not vegan I learned how to cook traditional foods and through my personal vegan journey I learned how to make the things I ate growing up that were traditionally made with meat and dairy, but vegan with the goal that it didn't look or taste vegan. This sort of became my specialty as I understood why ingredients did and what their purpose in a recipe is for and did well in school. 

I worked full time in different kitchens in Orlando from Disney World Resorts, Universal Studios Resorts to local places like Ava Mediterraegean to support myself through schooling. With much determination I  finally graduated in 2022 from Valencia College with an Associates in Culinary Arts. By age 20 I had finally landed my first Sous Chef position and started to really see that I was indeed doing the damn thing. With the start of the pandemic like many who felt bottled up at home I started to make cooking videos to post on TikTok, Instagram and Youtube to start working on my own recipes and sharing them with others who want to try eating plant based foods. With this came the motivation to start my private chef business cooking for people in Orlando looking to have a more intimate dining experience or have some meal prep ready to go. 

Currently I am continuing to hustle in dedication to have my future restaurant one day. Working on my Bachelors in Business Administration to be the chef and business owner I aspire to be. With my combined efforts in the field, school and even my social media presence I hope to build a foundation that will allow for a successful restaurant one day to employ others like me who are passionate about food and creating an experience for others. 

The Kitchen Confidential

Since I started working at a young age, working in kitchens with men that were a little rough around the edges it most definitely was not always easy. It took years for me to realize what I was capable of however it didn't take much time for my peer line cooks to see what I was capable of and use my own doubt against me. In the earlier years of me in the kitchen people really took their time to train and explain things to me making me feel supported by the others in the kitchen team.

After some time I realized that most kitchen folk are not going to welcome me with open arms like my first job did and show me the ropes. It started to become a new normal for chefs and other cooks to see how much I could take in efforts to get me to be emotionally reactive from sabotaging my prep, to throwing plates, locking me in the walk-in fridge, yelling in my face as if we were in the military, calling me just about every name under the sun and oh yes, sexual harassment.

However when things got tough I knew I couldn't give up because first things first I knew that's what they all wanted and I knew that they were secretly jealous. Jealous that I was half their age doing the same damn thing they were. The guys in the kitchen would always pride themselves on their insinuation that the kitchen was the man's place and was too much for women and that's why I was the only woman there. I knew they would always do their best to try to make it unbearable for me which made me even more of a force to be reckoned with. I remember several kitchens I was employed to work in almost as a joke to see if I would even come back after my first day after throwing me on the saute or grill station with nothing but the menu they gave to guests to set myself up with and to teach myself how to make the dish.

Looking back, these experiences were outright abusive and I know that these situations are not unique to me as this is the reality for many women in the kitchen. However, as much as I wouldn’t want to do it all over again, I am grateful that this led me to be the thick skinned chef I am today.