What started out as a journal to help preserve her heritage, unexpectedly turned into a full-time online publication for Coronado resident Maggie Unzueta. “My inspiration for Mama Maggie’s Kitchen is mainly what my son will eat,“ she laughs. “I started this as a way to help connect him with his roots, with no idea what it would become. My grandmother would be amazed at how far I have come with her recipes.”
Maggie feels intrinsically connected to her Hispanic roots. Even though she grew up in Los Angeles, she embraced her heritage and spent a lot of time with family cooking in Durango, Mexico. One of the dishes she most enjoys making now is sweet enchiladas, which are reminiscent of time spent there. She inherited a stack of illustrated recipe books, passed down from her family, and she is working through them, converting metric measurements to US cooking standards. Her amazing flan recipe dates back to the 1700s in Spain, along with countless Southern Mexico favorites.
When she formalized her journal into a blog in 2010, she wondered why people, other than family and friends, would follow her, but discovered people relate to her authenticity. She soon learned that authentic regional Mexican recipes resonated with her followers. “I have discovered that people want to connect with me as a real person behind the recipes, words, and experiences. Many relate to the reality of being apart from family.”
Fusion dishes have been trendy, but she found that folks yearn to get back to basics and learn to create dishes from their culture. She was a quick learner, as she began to film her recipe segments, and she now has two videographers who assist her. Her international team of six, including her husband, helps maintain the business, which requires more attention than people realize, with daily updates and behind the scenes security protocols over multiple platforms. Managing Mama Maggie’s Kitchen on social media is a more than full-time job, with 58,000 followers on Instagram, Facebook with nearly 80,000 followers, YouTube with 2750 followers and 168 videos, Twitter @maggieunz with more than 20,000 followers, and Pinterest with more than 100,000 followers, and millions more on her blog, with her newsletter.
Maggie notes that Google drives more traffic to her website than Facebook or Instagram, which is not what people would typically think. Networking, content creation, filming, and collaboration are just a part of keeping her business current. She studies trends to keep up with what’s most current, listens to podcasts, and participates in groups, all while sharing her daily life. She has been fortunate to have sponsors come to her, and that list is constantly growing. Questions often come in from people who want to start their own blog, but she says that it can be daunting, and recommends they do their homework to understand all of what it entails before diving in.
From the moment she wakes up in the morning, she begins fielding relationships and fills her day with recipe and content creation, filming, and a myriad of other details to make her business successful. For the past year, Maggie has also shared her healthy lifestyle journey, giving her followers insights into her daily workout routine, and she appreciates that they help keep her accountable. Fully embracing fitness balances a life where she eats for a living. Always on the go, she says that swinging kettlebells helps her get away from the pressures of social media.
“I’m focusing on learning a life-work balance and am teaching myself that it’s ok to do nothing.” With a quest to learn, she has studied six languages, and has plans to add a seventh. She has travelled extensively throughout Mexico, having visited 22 of the 32 states, with her husband teasing her that she has only 10 more to complete her bingo card. She has also trekked throughout Europe and envisions more travelling in her future.
As her following has grown, she continues to reveal more about her life, documenting her weekly trips to Tijuana for visits to the market, doctor, dentist, pharmacy, and of course eating at her favorite taco stands, which she proclaims are the best in the world.
“The food scene in Tijuana is amazing and I love sharing my favorite places,” she comments. “I feel like living here gives me the best of both worlds.” Her goal in showing life in Tijuana is to illustrate how Americans can easily navigate there. For example, she notes that when riding in an elevator, it is customary to greet everyone when you get in, not stare ahead quietly as most Americans do. “I find people enjoy glimpsing insights into daily life there.”
She also shares about her life in Coronado, where she walks along the bay and beach. Calling herself an accidental influencer, people have started to recognize her, which she says always seems surreal. As Mama Maggie, she illustrates the pressures of juggling her life as a mom, attending all her son’s CHS basketball games and being involved with his activities. When asked what her son thinks of her fame, she said to him she’s just mom. Her son is also musical, which comes from her family, where her grandfather played multiple instruments in a conservatory, and she and her brothers played several instruments.
Outside of her blog, she has written recipes for stores like Smart and Final and has done commercials for Ralphs. She usually turns down offers to be on television, because it takes too much time away from her blog, which is her bread and butter income. Her busiest season is October through December, when people are clamoring for holiday recipes.
Mexicocina is her recently published cookbook, with recipes from savory to sweet. I was intrigued by the traditional Rosca de Reyes bread, created to commemorate Three Kings’ Day on January 6. For this traditional end to the holiday season in Mexico and Spain, a tiny plastic baby representing Jesus is hidden inside the bread and whoever finds it has to make tamales on February 2.
The food blogging business isn’t all glamorous. Sometimes as she styles food for photoshoots, she’ll use toothpicks, tweezers, and other props, while hanging off a step stool to get the perfect angle and lighting. When she looks at her cookbook cover, she fondly remembers that her son was taking a Zoom Spanish class in the background when the cover shot was taken. She’s become a food photographer herself, and takes all her own pictures.
The future potentially includes another cookbook, maybe focused on desserts or Instant Pot recipes, and naturally the expansion of her blog and media presence. Some recipes she hasn’t been able to make and share because she can’t find the needed regional ingredients like certain chilies, roots, vegetables, and spices from Southern Mexico, which has vastly different cuisine than Northern Mexico.
When I told her I am still trying to master making basic tortillas with a metal press, she said it was as easy as using a plate. Fully immersed in cooking for her family and her followers, she doesn’t see cooking as difficult, but admits that it takes time, and advocates for meal prepping to help families manage busy lifestyles.
Discover more about what’s cooking in Mama Maggie’s Kitchen.
You can also find her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.
