In a world full of diet trends, harmful images of what our bodies should look like, and confusing health advice, I, like many, fell victim to the chaos. For the last 10 years, I tried numerous diets—keto, raw vegan, carnivore, and more—all ending in yet another fa iled attempt to look and feel my best. Moreover, I noticed that these diets often made me miss out on my cultural foods, especially during our family’s Sunday dinners filled with salsas and tortillas.

I no longer wanted to miss out on carne asada tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, and chilaquiles (and yes… do we see a pattern? Lots of Mexican dishes incorporate tortillas!). Determined not to miss out, I tried supermarket “healthy tortillas” made from various flours. To my disappointment, they all had one thing in common: they lacked taste and broke as soon as you put food in them. Like, c’mon… you’d think they would accomplish the sole purpose of a tortilla, right?

What started as a disappointment led me to take my shot at making my own healthy tortillas. After all, I come from a family that has been making tortillas for more than 15 years!

Oh, and lastly, that it''s not so far removed from a tortilla (yes, I'm talking to you lettuce, egg, and cheese wraps!).

I blended oats, water, and salt to create a sturdy, soft, and subtly flavored tortilla with simple, clean ingredients.

My parents, always supportive and willing to try my creations, loved my tortillas. We worked many “after hours” in the kitchen. *Gets flashbacks of working till 1am.* However, through so much trial and error, we perfected our oat tortilla.

It wouldn''t be a passion project without me obsessing over ways to complicate it… so we got to work on a pink and green tortilla! Because how cool is it to eat colorful tacos? We even created a multigrain version perfect for tostadas, chips, or nachos.

Testing our products at farmers markets proved successful, and we decided to expand. Now, do you remember the second thing we always have on our table? Yes, salsas. We introduced traditional salsas, some recipes over 40 years old, made with the best ingredients.

On the happiest closing note, creating Nanu healed my relationship with food and my body. I will never “diet” again, I simply focus on eating clean, unprocessed foods. At Nanu, we believe food is one of the main components of our cultures; it's how we stay close to the ones we love. Nanu is for all those people who don't want to give up their culture to have a healthy lifestyle.

I'm excited to share this journey to bring our cultural classics back into a health-conscious lifestyle. Whether it's chamoy, chilito, tamales, or buñuelos, you'll never have to give up your culture again.