KARLA

CHEF

“Meals create conversations, flavors, and memories for the people around you.”

Growing up in Mexico, my grandmother didn’t mean to teach me to cook, but I remember quietly watching her cook. Every time I cook now, I remember those moments with my grandmother in Mexico.

I love the creativity of cooking - being a chef is like being an artist, and all the ingredients are like colors. I try a little of this and a little of that. It’s just like an artist creating a beautiful thing. The colors, the textures, the smells that make up a meal.

Meals are powerful – they create conversations, flavors, and memories for the people around you. When they smell that same food again, they connect to that memory.

I also love tables full of people and laughs. Growing up with my mom and dad, every single day, we would eat at the same time, and it was like a celebration. A full table with a lot of people and a lot of love. I remember the smile on my dad's face when he saw his table full of people and food – I want the same!

22 years ago, no one in Nashville knew empanadas or anything like that. Now, there are a lot of chefs who know how to make real Mexican food. We want you to eat real food that is beautiful, delicious, colorful, and healthy – to really know what Mexican food is about.

Siloam Health literally provided life for me by helping me access affordable insulin when I really needed it. And more than once, people from Siloam called to check on me to make sure I was ok.

One of my goals now is to be a volunteer at Siloam Health. I want to help people who have been diagnosed as diabetic know what to do – it’s not the end of the world. I know it’s hard, but I have learned how to make delicious food that is still healthy.