Eating With IntentionDoesn’t Mean Abandoning Where You Come From

I decided to go on a journey, to eat healthy but to remain loyal to the food that raised me. 

As a Cuban/ Colombian American.. arepas, beans, plantains, avocados, were just home to me. They were never labeled anti-inflammatory or heart healthy and to be honest, I never did understand their nutritional benefits.

Now that I’m older, I’ve been making more of an intention to understand what I’m eating and how it can be beneficial to my body. But, as I began to search for “healthy food” none of it looked familiar to me, none of it spoke my language. And food is not something I want to compromise on, and if you think I was going to let go of my Cuban, Colombian, Caribbean, South American foods… you got it wrong.

So instead of letting go.. I leaned in. 

I started doing some research on the very foods my grandparents, and their parents and their parents survived off of, and what nourished them can still nourish me. This isn’t about replacing my culture. It’s about understanding it.

Eating with intention doesn’t mean abandoning where you come from. For me, it just means honoring it.

Written by Mailen Jonelle
Photography by Mailen Jonelle