98. How Food Connects Us to Culture, Community, and the People We Love with Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack

In this episode: Discover how food can be so much more than what's on your plate — how it connects us to our cultural roots, deepens our relationships, and becomes one of the most powerful ways we build community, with Emmy-recognized food storyteller, cookbook author, and founder of Muy Bueno, Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack.Yvette grew up in El Paso, Texas, spending her afternoons in her grandmother's kitchen — breathing in the smell of roasting chile, listening to stories of the Mexican Revolution, and watching flour tortillas get made entirely by feel and touch. She never planned to be a cook. But when her grandmother passed away and her own daughter asked, "Do you have these recipes written down?", something shifted. What started as a family cookbook became three published cookbooks, a thriving blog, and a Substack called Cocina to Career — all rooted in the belief that recipes are more than instructions. They're stories. They're heritage. They're the reason people show up at your door.In this conversation, we talk about what it really means to preserve a food legacy, why the dinner table is still one of the most underrated places for connection, and how getting into the kitchen — even as a total beginner — might be one of the most radical acts of community-building you can do.If your family recipes live in your mom's head, your dinner routine is more DoorDash than dining table, and you've been meaning to do something about both — this one's for you.KEY TAKEAWAYSFood is not just sustenance — it's identity. The recipes passed down through your family carry stories, history, and belonging that no AI-generated blog post can replicate.If your grandma or mom is still here, write the recipes down now. Not because you'll forget how — because one day they won't be there to call, and the pinch of this and the dash of that will go with them.The dinner table is where your kids open up. It doesn't have to be every night, but when it happens, it becomes the conversation that doesn't happen anywhere else.You don't have to be a trained chef to start cooking. Start with a dish you love, find a recipe made by a real human, and let the passion carry you further than any skill ever could.The food blog world is a creator economy — and it's under threat. When you skip the blog and go straight to AI for recipes, you're cutting off the real people who did the research, tested the recipes, and built something worth supporting.Mexican food is not a monolith. Northern Mexican, Tex-Mex, Oaxacan, Yucatecan — the regional diversity is vast, and learning the difference is part of honoring the culture.Human connection is the secret ingredient for creativity. Whether it's a retreat with fellow creators, dinner with your photographer, or traveling somewhere new — sparking energy with other people in the room is how inspiration finds its way back to you."If you have your grandma, if you have your mom, write these special recipes down — because one day they won't be there if you don't.”CONNECT WITH YVETTEWebsite: muybuenoblog.comInstagram: @muybuenocookingSubstack: Cocina to CareerCookbooks: Muy Bueno, Latin Twist, and FiestasConnect with Teresa Join the Becoming Obsessed Playground, the weekly email for curiosity-led women building a life they love. Instagram: @becomingobsessedpod and @teresaajeanLeave a review on Apple or Spotify Podcasts. Reviews are the biggest thank-you, and reviews help ambitious women find the show.Website: teresaajean.comTopics: Mexican food and culture, preserving family recipes, food as community, heritage cooking, food blogger business model, cookbook author life, Latino food traditions, AI and the creator economy, cooking for beginners, dinner table traditions, food and identity, Muy Bueno, food storytelling, personal growth podcast for women, building a life you love, becoming obsessed podcast, community through food, cultural preservation, family legacy, recipe testing