Today we’d like to introduce you to Rosalia Parra.
Rosalia, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Cooking (and eating) was something I learned to love to do at a young age. I remember coming home from school and the first thing I would say to my mom was “Mami que hiciste de comer” and for the rest of the day, my mood would be based on if she made my favorite dish or not. I also remember helping make my family’s Thanksgiving meal from as young as 10 and by the time I was 17, I was making the meal alone. My mom taught me a lot and I watched Food Network constantly. I remember trying to make new recipes all the time (my sister has a funny story about me being excited about finding ricotta cheese at 9 years old lol) but now that my mom lives in a different state it’s her food I try to recreate.
I’d always wanted to be a chef but my dad would tell me that I was too smart for that. He and my mom emigrated from Mexico and to them, like many immigrant parents, wanted more for their children than to work in kitchens. My parents are both really supportive now and my dad helps with pop-ups regularly. They even try to create new recipes.
I never really pursued being a chef in a formal way, I went to school and I’m still in school now trying to finish getting my finance degree. I honestly never really thought that Mexican food would be respected enough to have someone like me be considered a chef, especially not by making Vegan Mexican food. It wasn’t until I met Maricela Vega from Chicomecoatl that helped me realize that there’s room for Mexican women to create and share the food that feels like home to them.
Maiz y Canela started last year in June, but it wasn’t something I planned, everything just sort of fell together. A friend of mine, Justin Little, had booked a hardcore show in Lawrenceville that was supposed to last several hours and he got a food truck to set up and vend there. The food truck bailed and he was trying to get someone to sell food and asked me. I had helped Mari with her pop-ups in the past, but I never had complete control of a pop-up. She was a great help and that pop up went really well, before the end of the night, I had already been asked to another pop up at The Bakery.
I didn’t start off promoting my food as a vegan because I know that that can deter people from trying it and it was always funny to see people’s reactions after they found out it was. But better than that, it was nice to see people walk up and ask if anything was vegan and telling them everything is vegan and how stoked they would look.
I’ve honestly been really lucky. My parents, family, friends, The Bakery and the Atlanta Hardcore community have been extremely helpful and welcoming this past year. I would not have had the courage to do this without them.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would not say it’s been the roughest road, but I have had some obstacles. It’s mostly just overworking myself and trying to do too much with not enough time. Despite that, I don’t think that’s a bad obstacle to have. It allowed me to learn my limits, but also I learned to realize that it’s just me and that if I run out of time to make a pie, then I’m just not going to have a pie and its not the end of the world. My advice to women that are undergoing this type of business is to relax and plan ahead, but also realize that things aren’t always going to be perfect and that is okay. An important thing that I think any person creating business should always think about is to create a business that they themselves would like to support. I personally think more highly of a place and frequent more often if the business chooses to be eco-friendly and lessens their effects on the environment.
Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I specialize in Vegan Mexican Food and what I think what sets me apart from others is that I make everything myself. Often vegan food gets a bad reputation for being bland or too healthy, and I try to make my food flavorful without cutting any corners. Mexican food is complex and requires many steps and ingredients to get the right notes and that’s the way I try to make my food while still being vegan. You’ll never see me using canned salsa at my pop-ups and I think that makes a big difference in the dishes. I recreate the food I grew up eating so I try to mimic those flavors and I wouldn’t make something that I wouldn’t want to eat, that’s also why my food is often really spicy. My favorite things I make are the tostadas de frijol and the agua de horchata. One of the things I’m most proud of is that I avoid using plastic disposables and often use compostable dinnerware at my pop-ups, people only use the plates or forks for about ten minutes so there’s no need to create such a large plastic waste.
What’s the most important piece of advice you could give to a young woman just starting her career?
The most important advice I could give anyone starting their own career is to do what makes you happy even if you can’t do it full time. Work a shitty office job part time that allows you to pay your bills, but keep working towards what makes you happy. It will pay off.
Contact Info:
- Email: maizycanela@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maizycanela/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maizycanela/
Image Credit:
Black and white photo by Dennis Harville, All other photos excluding food are by Onyee Ijebuonwu
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