Growing up with family from all over the world allowed me to experience and enjoy many diverse types of food, but my favorite type of food was and always will be a two-way tie between the food that my grandmas on both my parents’ side make.  

My grandmas are from Guatemala and Colombia respectively and growing up there allowed them to share all the things that they learned about cooking with my cousins and me by making us some incredible food. Both parts of the world contribute food recipes full of interesting food pairings and flavor combinations that lead to your taste buds savoring each bite.  

As a kid, my favorite dish that my grandma on my mom’s side would make was “arroz negro,” which is seasoned black rice and beans. On paper I know that sounds simple, but it was jam packed with flavor. When it was paired with chicken and plantains, it became the perfect combination of sweet, savory, and delicious.  

Something that I’ve always admired about the method of cooking from my grandma on my mom’s side is that she’s able to memorize her recipes and replicate them with ease. Every time I would eat “arroz negro,” it would always be the consistent flavor that I would come to expect with every dish she’d makes to this day.  

An appetizer-adjacent dish that I enjoy a lot are empanadas, which are fried dough pockets filled with many different fillings. The ones I enjoy the most are the ones she’d make with vegetable filling and beef, which was paired with the homemade salsa she made for a savory, spicy experience I loved every time.  

My all-time favorite dessert in the world would have to be salpicon, which in my opinion is my grandma’s specialty, and it is a fruit-based dessert made with fresh fruit and juice that is always so refreshing regardless of the season I enjoy it in.  

My dad’s mom is the ultimate cultured cook. Not only is she able to cook Guatemalan food to a great degree, but she can also execute cuisines from all over the world too. An incredible dish that she makes is her combination of breaded chicken and spaghetti. The breaded chicken is seasoned with so much love and care that you taste it in every bite and the spaghetti is delicious. The creamy, smooth texture of the spaghetti alongside the crunchy breaded chicken makes for the perfect combination of flavors.  

Her specialty would have to be the vanilla cake she makes with a bunch of secret ingredients, culminating in a cake with a rich, fluffy texture and flavors that leave my taste buds happy every time I enjoy some.