Hello, I'm Zoe!
Wepa! I’m Zoe and I am on a quest to reconnect with my Puerto Rican culture, food, and traditions. Born and raised in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, by the age of 15, my mother left the island to provide my sister, brother, and me, with a better life.
The move created a sense of possibility in my life. An idea that many things that once were just dreams, were now possible. It also introduced me to a world of cuisines. I will be the first to admit that when we first arrived in Florida, I was so overwhelmed with so many cuisines all I wanted was to eat everything else that was not Puerto Rican food. As I got older and met people from different cultures, I learned to enjoy other people's food. Still, I noticed similarities in foods between our cultures and ingredients, and my appetite for food grew to the point I wanted to learn how to cook professionally.
I found myself in culinary school learning techniques, cuisines, and ingredients, but I also found myself lacking in my own personal knowledge of MY cultural heritage, Puerto Rican food. There is something to be said about a person who knows their culture and food. It is now my mission to learn more about the food I grew up with.
Living outside the island sometimes makes it hard to find certain ingredients, or sometimes the quality of the ingredients is not the best. So recreating some of these recipes can be hard at times. I also have lost my mother and grandmother, my ties to my culture. Making the process of learning my favorite recipes a process of trial and error rather than a generational passed down.
Like me, I have met a few other Puerto Ricans that have not had the luxury or previledge to learn from older generations. Sometimes, because my background is in culinary arts, people as me to make a dish, to which I quickly explain, this is how I understand the dish, not how other Puerto Ricans make it.
I created this site, in the hope to create a better understanding of the recipes that make up the Puerto Rican cuisine. To make the missing connection to a culture I barely knew. And to document my experience through food. To tell a story, like my mother used to tell me. A story for my children, and their children.
Join me in my journey, as I reconnect with my culture and explore Puerto Rican cooking one recipe at a time.
Feel like we can collaborate? Hit me up, and we could meet up! [email protected]
