Food is a beautiful expression of so many things – culture, history, geography, memories, lifestyle, and personality.. Not many things in life can express both concrete and abstract experiences and be shared with others.
Rena, A Girl and a Spoon
Who is The Girl Behind the Spoon
Hi, I’m Rena! I’m a former business process engineer turned recipe developer, food photographer, and food writer now living in Texas with my husband and toddler. I love experimenting in the kitchen, working hands-on with ingredients, flavors, and techniques. I enjoy a mix of culinary traditionalism and innovation to honor history while creating my own.
Where My Love of Food Began
My love for food definitely comes from being mixed (Filipina/American), the food scenes in my hometown, and living and traveling abroad. (You don’t realize how hard or easy something is to make until you don’t have access to it!)
Food has always been my favorite storyteller: expressing love, patience, and connection. From the care in my mother’s cooking to the generosity of a village farmer in Egypt, I’ve experienced how powerful a shared meal could be. I became fascinated by the way ingredients travel across the globe, becoming staples thousands of miles from their origins. To me, food has always been more than sustenance – it’s a story with a thousand authors, being retold over and over again.
Food Style
My food style totally reflects me – a bit all over the place! From American and East Asian foods to Ethiopian and Swedish – my family was very adventurous with food. My husband, who is German/Sri Lankan, grew up eating Western European, South Asian, and British food, a lot of which I learned about through him.
As my husband is a vegetarian, I love experimenting with vegetarian alternatives for traditional meat-dishes. It’s also because he is European that I developed a love for bread and pastry making.
I am fully self-taught; I can’t fancy chop like a professional, but I always aim for deliciousness!
Please enjoy the love, memories, stories, and history of all the foods on my humble blog. Bon Appetit!
