Where Nana's Tamales ~ The Healing Cheff Was Born

And maybe the greatest realization of all came decades later.

The little girl who learned to feed people because her family depended on her…

became the woman who discovered that feeding people was one of the ways she loved them.

Looking back now, I realize Nana’s Tamales ~ The Healing Cheff wasn't born in a commercial kitchen.

She was born in a little eight-hundred-and-fifteen-square-foot house, where a nine-year-old girl quietly stepped into adulthood because love asked her to.

Looking back, I can see that what once felt like responsibility eventually became purpose.

What began as survival became service.

What began as necessity became love.

And somewhere between that little house and the life I live today, I discovered that food was never just food.

It was comfort.

It was connection.

It was one of the ways I learned to say, "I love you."

🌸 Excerpt from my upcoming memoir.