Best Food Blogs of 2013

As the year comes to a close, we’re taking stock of the last 12 months. Feeling a little nostalgic and celebrating what a wonderful and delicious year it’s been, we’re picking out our favorite recipes and our favorite sweet bites, and now, our favorite Latin food blogs of the year. These blogs are the sites we add to our feeds, check in on every day, bookmark and share. Through their sites, these bloggers have become our constant cooking companions, always welcome in our kitchen. And we’re introducing you to them now. Here, our favorite Latin food blogs of the year.

Muy Bueno Cookbook

Yvette Marquez Sharpnack and Veronica Gonzalez Smith started the Muy Bueno Cookbook blog with their mother, Evangelina, in 2010. Originally a place to share family recipes, especially those of their grandmother, Jesusita Mendias-Soza, the blog became wildly popular, spinning off into a cookbook.

Why we love it: Yvette and her contributors don’t just share their recipes, they share genuine, heartfelt memories and they cook to celebrate their culture, their heritage, and their family. Just like us. 

The Mija Chronicles

Southern California native Lesley Tellez started this blog in 2009 to document her move to Mexico City. It quickly became a love letter to Mexican street food and Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s a way to share recipes, memories, and expertise.

Why we love it: Because we’ve eaten our way through a few cities. There’s nothing like stumbling bleary eyed and jet lagged into a café or taqueria or fritura shack, pointing at items in a glass case, sitting down with a tray or a bag or a plate overflowing and knowing you’re right where you’re supposed to be.

Next, more mouthwatering reads…

The Other Side of the Tortilla

The Other Side of the Tortilla is a Mexican food and travel blog by Maura Hernandez and it’s an investigation into how and why we cook and eat what we cook and eat. As Hernandez writes: “[It’s] based on the idea that you may have eaten something a thousand times, but if you just look at it in a different way—ingredient by ingredient—you’ll notice something new about it that you didn’t see before.”

Why we love it: Because it answers the questions: Why? How? When? So often we cook the way our abuelas and tios taught us, using only this rolling pin, slicing only that way. With some careful research, Hernandez explores why this or that while (re)creating delicious Latin recipes. So now you’ll be able to answer when someone in the kitchen asks: “But why?”

Nibbles and Feasts

This bilingual blog was started by Ericka Sanchez and is a way for Sanchez to share her experiences with food, products, and recipes as a Mexican woman living in Los Angeles.

Why we love it: Because this is how we cook now. Fun and playful, Sanchez captures (and keeps the balance) between authentic and creative, classic and modern. Though we love the old school tortillas, enchiladas, arroz, and pozole, we love the modern flare even more. 

Aunt Clara’s Kitchen

This blog was started by “Aunt Clara” (who wasn’t actually an aunt when she started the blog) in 2001. Based in Punta Cana, the blog showcases classic Dominican (and Dominican-inspired) recipes.

Why we love it: It’s our daily dose of sass. Aunt Clara and her partner in crime, Aunt Ilana, are fun and funny and their recipes are delicious and timely. Also, on the slim chance we’re full (never happens), we can wonder over to the lifestyle section and check out cool home goods and crafts, interviews, and articles.

First Generation Funk

As Carolyng Gomes, the woman behind the blog, writes: “I express myself, my heritage and my culture through food. When I am not whipping up some arepas …I am playing kitchen wizard with my bright orange kitchen aid … [making] the traditional dishes I grew up with healthier, fresher and new.”

Why we love it: Healthy Latin food is possible! And Gomes makes it delicious. She’s got plenty of options for vegetarians, vegans, or those looking to all around lighten up, her writing is lighthearted and thoughtful, and her photography is gorgeous.

Next, more mouthwatering reads…

Sweet Life Bake

Vianney Rodriguez, a proud Tejana, started the blog as a way to document the “sweet life enriched with the spice of two diverse worlds enveloped with the memories of growing up in a Mexican household.”

Why we love it: Because life is sweet! There’s a joy in cooking, in sharing food with others, that’s not often on display, written about, or celebrated. And Rodriguez captures that in her recipe development (cookies made with Peeps!), her tone, and her design.

The Noshery

The blogger behind The Noshery is Meseidy, a “landlocked” Puerto Rican living in Oklahoma, who started the blog in 2008 after realizing how much she and her husband missed the food from their beloved island.

Why we love it: Because we get homesick too. And then we cook, just like Meseidy. Cooking takes us home much faster than a flight and connects with us the family, friends, and ingredients we don’t get to see everyday.

New World Review

Nicholas Gill is a writer and photographer who’s traveled the world and, on his site, Gill attempts to highlight and create awareness for traditions and ingredients on the verge of being forgotten.

Why we love it: It’s cheaper than buying a plane ticket. Gill travels extensively throughout Latin America, down back roads and into mountain valleys that we simply can’t get to (well, not today). His travel guides are thoughtful and with his keen eye and stance on documenting the authentic, he’s a trustworthy curator of what’s real and important right now. 

Always Order Dessert

Alejandra Ramos is a trained chef who moved to Florence to learn from the best. While living abroad, Ramos developed her culinary point of view and on her blog she shares homemade recipes and chic entertaining ideas.

Why we love it: It’s spirited and graceful. Ramos found her life’s passion when she started cooking and the joy she feels comes through in her writing and her recipes. Cooking is happy, food is happy and her blog is a celebration of that sentiment. Plus, we agree, you should always order dessert.