As a Puerto Rican raised in the mainland US, I've never felt like I truly belonged in either of my cultures. My broken Spanish signaled I was a “gringa.” Gesticulating with my hands while speaking in a tone just a touch too loud for the room revealed I wasn’t “from these parts.” I learned how to bridge the gap through food. I recreate all-American dishes with traditional Latino flavors. Think meatloaf made with picadillo or a loaded baked plantain. If food is a language, my kitchen speaks Spanglish. Bienvenidos. Thank you for being here.
This space is for you if you are a bicultural Latino like me. We walk between two worlds, never entirely belonging to either. I want to create a space where we can connect with our culture without apologizing for broken Spanish. A place where we can swap stories about how many times people mispronounce our names and share tales of our Abuelas yelling at us for using Americanized ingredients in traditional meals.
I hope you enjoy my recipes and my stories. I hope you share some of your own. But, of course, you don't have to be bicultural to be a part of this community. Everyone is welcome at this table. Well… maybe not everyone. More on that in a minute.
A Little About Me
When I was 12 years old, I knew deep in my Puerto Rican bones that I was going to marry George Michael. So much so that I worried feverishly about him visiting me in my father's single-wide. Not because an internationally acclaimed pop star would see that we lived in squalor. It was because I didn't own George's first solo record, which would, of course, place a shadow over the legitimacy of my love.
So to afford my first album purchase, I began selling homemade peanut butter cookies in our trailer park playground for 25 cents a pop. And that, my friend, is how my unlikely journey in the world of food began.
It was a slow burn at first. It went nowhere for over two decades, as if I was trying to start a fire with a magnifying glass during a hurricane. So I forgot about food and began a career in radio and comedy. I built a beautiful life for myself. I got married and had a child. I lived in an incredible home and had loads of money in the bank.
Then in 2011, I lost it all: my marriage, my home, my job, and my savings. Facing homelessness on the streets of LA with my two-year-old kiddo, I decided to try out for a reality cooking competition to score $50 to help me pay rent. I didn't get the $50, but I did get cast on Season 3 of Gordon Ramsay's MasterChef.
I found myself in the ludicrous position where trying to win a world-renowned cooking competition was the only way I was going to keep my kid and me off the street. And though I did not win the prize money that I desperately needed, I found the meaning of life on a cutting board. Suddenly food engulfed every waking moment of my day. The ten years that followed have been epic:
Cooking at events all over the country.
Judging and hosting food TV shows on major networks.
Writing essays and recipes for top food publications.
Working with some of the biggest names in the culinary world.
Why Substack?
As my social media audience grows, I find myself wanting to pull back. I'm a woman, which is a daily invitation for a barrage of lewd comments from sexist men. My child is trans, and sharing her journey has fostered a slew of abusive statements online. Statements that I'm keen for her never to see and that I am, frankly, tired of seeing.
So I will no longer allow DMs on my social media platforms. I will hire someone to approve comments before they are posted. My content will no longer include intimate stories about my private life. Instead, it will focus on my work.
However, this choice leaves me in a quagmire. I don't want to cut myself off from the community of people who, for the last decade, have kept me going through the darkest times. But I also need to make sure that we meet in a more controlled environment, free of hate speech and sexism. To make sure this space stays positive, the comment section of my Substack will only be for our tighter community of paying subscribers. I want to hear from you and make this a place where you can connect with one another! Please join the conversation:
That’s why I created Spanglish. It’s a space where I want you to feel like you're a guest at my table. One that's all about sharing stories, trading recipes, and celebrating what it means to be bicultural.
Why Subscribe?
Spanglish is a space where you will find:
Easy Recipes that mash Latin flavors into classic American dishes.
How-To Videos that show off tricks and hacks to help you master your kitchen.
Intimate and Funny Stories about carving a career in the food world, parenting a child that’s transitioning, and behind-the-scenes skinny from my production sets.
The next two years will be the most insane of my life. I'm writing my first cookbook (also called Spanglish), which Simon Element will publish in the fall of 2024. I'm the Senior Food Editor for Budget Bytes, one of the biggest food blogs in the country. I'm traveling nonstop to shoot TV and cook at food festival demos.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, I'm trying to find the time to date. Most importantly, I'm mothering a child that's transitioning, and that's where I need you more than you need me. It is so grounding to share our journey with you and know that we aren't alone.
If you're here for it (and if you've read this far, I certainly hope you are), hit the subscribe now button.
A free subscription gets you weekly cooking tips, recipes, and behind-the-scenes videos.
A paid subscription ($5 a month or $50 a year) gives you access to a monthly virtual cooking demo out of my home kitchen. During the live demo, we'll chat and get to know each other, and I can answer any of your culinary questions. You’ll also have access to my post archive.
If you become a founding member (any amount of $75 and above), you receive all of the above, and I will place your name in the thank you section of my upcoming cookbook, Spanglish.
So are you in? Fantastic. I hope to see you in the comments section of Spanglish and at some of my virtual cooking demos. Thank you for reading this far. Seguimos. Pa’lante!
XOXO -Monti
Welcome To Spanglish with Monti Carlo