I'm Analida and this is my husband Tom. (The photographer, site admin and dishwasher.) I started this blog to inspire and help individuals create easy, affordable ethnic meals using fresh ingredients. I strive to provide meal solutions for families and those who want to expand their culinary horizons. I now live in the United States but I am originally from Panamá and lived in Europe for 4 years. My travels have taken me all over the USA, Canada, Ireland, Europe, Russia, UK, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Here are some cool features of my site:
- Many of my recipes include easy to follow step by step photos to help you make the dish perfectly the first time.
- If you have a question just email me or leave a comment right below the recipe in the comment section. I read all comments and I try to reply to all questions on a daily basis. I want to be your personal culinary consultant. Let's do this!
- Most ingredients can be found at your local market.
- There are some more exotic ingredients in a few dishes and I will link out to those right in the recipe that will take you to Amazon. If you make an Amazon purchase I will make small commission, at no extra cost to you, that helps me cover the cost of running the site. (There is a full disclosure on this at the bottom.)
- Another fun fact: I am an adjunct lecturer of architectural history at Mercyhurst University so I LOVE to include historical perspectives of a dish, the culture and sometimes the ingredients.
- All my recipes have a word count and read time. If you are in a hurry you can always click "Jump to Recipe" and get right to the ingredients and instructions of the dish.
- You can sign up for my email list and I will email you every new recipe I publish. No Spam, just recipes. As a special bonus for subscribing I will email you my free Holiday Treats From Around the World Ebook.
So how did this all begin? About 20 years ago my husband and I became friends with a French chef who had just opened a small bistro in our downtown. I suggested that he do cooking classes on Sundays (when the restaurant was closed).
For about four and a half years some friends and I took over the tiny restaurant kitchen. We learned to make many of the wonderful French sauces, crème bruleé, and coq au vin among other things. We learned knife basics, how to test a cream sauce, and tie a roast. The day was spent in good company and with good wine, of course! The day ended with us enjoying the fruits of our labor. ( That's me on the right sporting my Latina Roseanne Roseannadanna hair doo! Yikes!)
Cooking Classes at Bertrand's Bistro
As the years went by, I began to experiment with other ethnic dishes, Middle Eastern, Indian, and Italian just to name a few. Recently I took things a step further and began to research the history of food. I find this fascinating because there is such an intimate connection between food and culture.
La Cocina Latina Classes at Frankie and May
The summer of 2013 I began teaching ethnic food classes at a local organic market. The place had a stunning studio kitchen and bar stools for all the “students” to gather around. I offered a series in Latin American cooking. The classes were small and offered ample opportunity for chatting, mingling, drinking wine and yes, cooking! It was after teaching and preparing recipe handouts for students that I decided to put my recipes online. Analida's Ethnic Spoon was launched in the fall of 2013. See our FAQ page for more details about our site activities.
Analida's Ethnic Spoon recipes have been featured on Business Insider, BuzzFeed, Food Gawker, PopSugar, Yummly and many other sites.
Here is my family and Ethnic Spoon Team:
Adam Braeger- (son) Culinary professional at Red Letter Hospitality and ethnicspoon recipe developer.
Erika Braeger- (daughter) Digital Marketing Director & recipe researcher
Analida Braeger- Foodie, writer and recipe developer.
Tom Braeger- (husband) Site admin, food stylist and food photographer.
I have many friends from every continent and hope to share some of their "sabor" with all of you.
I would love to hear from you or if you have a question on a recipe please contact me. You can also message me via Facebook.
(I speak Spanish, English and French so drop me a note.)
¡Buen provecho!
Analida
A portion of our site revenue is used to fight world hunger as part of our Catholic Christian faith and mission. Please consider a sustaining gift to Mary's Meals and read their story of hope they bring. Matthew 25:40 "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."
Amazon affiliate links:
Our site contains affiliate links to help maintain our publishing activities. If you make a purchase from a link on our site, we may receive a small percentage of that sale, at no extra cost to you. Ethnicspoon.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.