Reina Gascón-López on Cooking as a Love Language

The Hispanic/Latinx community finds strength in their similarities as well as their differences. In honor of Hispanic/Latinx heritage month, we’re sharing stories of community members who have used their voice to advocate for visibility, change, and representation of every identity.

Chef and food writer Reina Gascón-López created The Sofrito Project as a way to celebrate her heritage, her homeland of Puerto Rico, and most importantly, her love of food. We spoke to Reina about her passion for cooking, how her culture influences her creativity, and how she’s been able to pivot her business in response to the pandemic. 

SQUARESPACE: How did you learn how to cook?

Reina Gascón-López: My mom taught me how to cook when I was little and I was around 9 when I started cooking meals on my own. My parents both worked long hours, so I was put in charge of making sure dinner was done so my brother and I had something to eat after school each day. I’ve always loved cooking and decided to pursue it professionally when I was unhappy at my last corporate job.

SQSP: What meal do you associate with your childhood? 

RGL: I would have to say bistec encebollado with arroz con gandules and tostones (cubed steak and onions served with rice and pigeon peas and fried plantains). My mom makes a mean bistec and she would always make this on special occasions growing up because at the time, pigeon peas were very hard to find in Charleston, SC. We often had family members from Puerto Rico ship us items from the island because we couldn’t find them where we lived. It’s one of my favorite dishes to make when I’m feeling homesick.

SQSP: How does cooking help with sharing your identity?

RGL: I feel like cooking is more than just feeding yourself. For me, I consider cooking to be another kind of love language. I love putting intention and love into what I make, so I find that it’s a great way for me to showcase my creativity and my culture in a special way. It’s difficult toeing the line of living up to standards set by society, staying true to yourself, and sharing yourself with others (especially on social media) so I feel like cooking is the way that I’ve been able to do this. I love Puerto Rico, its culture, and its people. And I love that cooking is my way to connect with others on a more intimate level because food is so ingrained within our daily lives. 

SQSP: How do you build a community when you can't meet face to face?

RGL: Social media has made it so easy to connect with others so quickly, especially now more than ever. Being able to engage with my friends and followers has honestly made this pandemic a little less stressful; it’s nice having a little tribe that I can virtually spend time with when I need that social interaction. I also feel like being transparent and staying true to yourself is the best way to build a community online, especially in the space of food media. Everyone should be able to cook and enjoy their food and I feel like everyone has something to bring to the table. There’s enough room for all of us to do our own thing and share a space together. I have my fingers crossed for being able to finally meet some folks in real life that I’ve become friends with over these last few years!

SQSP: How has your business adjusted to the changes the pandemic has brought? 

RGL: I was laid off back in March due to the pandemic and honestly at the beginning, it was really, really hard to adjust. At the time, I was working full-time as a line cook at a fine dining restaurant here in Charleston, working close to 60-70 hours a week when we were in our busy season and I was still finding time to share maybe one or two recipes on the blog every few weeks. My days off from the restaurant were spent writing and blogging. Truthfully, I was totally burnt out and exhausted. I couldn’t focus on my blogging the way I really wanted to because I was so worried about keeping up with my full-time job and scared of stepping out and working for myself. But if there’s one thing that the pandemic has taught me was being able to figure things out on the fly and pivot: I’ve been fortunate enough to focus solely on my blog by offering virtual cooking classes and scoring some recipe development gigs with brands and food publications to make ends meet financially. 

The silver lining about it all is that I finally have the time to do what I’ve really wanted to do all along. The restaurant industry has been forever changed because of the pandemic, so knowing that I have some kind of structure during these uncertain times has been a little comforting given the circumstances and the state of the world.

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