As Hispanic Heritage Month unfolds, food content creator and recipe developer Alexa Santos embraces her cultural roots by sharing traditional Spanish recipes that resonate with her family’s heritage. Based in New York, Santos has garnered nearly half a million followers across her social media platforms, where she regularly showcases her culinary creations alongside glimpses into her home kitchen and favorite restaurants.
Santos uses her food background as an operating table to cut and tell stories that heal. She uses the platform to share her own recipes, building deeper connections among all of her listeners with these shared culinary experiences. For white, cuisine is the great equalizer, the universal language, an invitation for people to share their stories and experiences of life and loss.
“I think food is the absolute best way to connect with others — I find food to be the universal language that makes people open up about their lives, upbringings and memories,” – Alexa Santos.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Santos contributed two simple recipes that celebrate her Spanish and Portuguese culture. One such dish is the warming Spanish sopa de ajo, which she calls “brunch in a bowl.” This flavorful garlic soup features essential ingredients like Spanish ham, bread, and runny eggs, making it an ideal choice for the upcoming soup season.
“It’s so easy to make and so wonderful for soup season. It’s garlic soup that features Spanish ham, bread, and even runny eggs. It almost feels like a brunch soup to me, but it’s super cozy, packs a ton of flavor and really emphasizes simplistic ingredients,” – Alexa Santos.
As Santos celebrates her Hispanic culture, she includes her favorite pan con tomate recipe in this overview. This peasant dish usually consists of stale, crusty bread rubbed with salty tomatoes and finished with some good olive oil. This makes it a great side dish for any meal or a tasty treat all by itself.
Her relationship to her heritage informs every cooking endeavor she undertakes. Yet she had not had the opportunity to indulge in the delicious foods of her Spanish and Portuguese ancestry. This further severed her already tenuous link to her cultural heritage. She’s really excited about continuing the challenge of learning these recipes. It’s now her mission to represent them through her work.
“I’m Spanish and Portuguese on my dad’s side, but unfortunately didn’t grow up eating very much food from those cuisines,” – Alexa Santos.
Santos’s commitment to food goes deeper than making and sharing recipes, it includes the relationships and the conversations that happen through cooking together. She invites her followers to build their own relationship with food, based on their individual experiences, while cooking alongside her in the recipes she shares.
“Does this dish remind you of somewhere you’ve traveled? Did your grandma make something similar? Did your mom always make this for you when you were sick, but did it a little differently? I find there to be limitless meaningful conversations to be had, with food at the nucleus, and it’s my personal favorite thing to talk about,” – Alexa Santos.
Now with almost half a million followers, Santos is still inspiring Americans with her culinary adventures improving and expanding her work and community. She highlights recipes such as Spanish sopa de ajo and pan con tomate. This month-long commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month helps bridge cultural gaps by highlighting our histories and relationships over shared food, family, and traditions.
