I want to take a moment to introduce my new friend, and Sofrito contributor Chef Ronaldo. I had an opportunity last year to become engaged with Ronaldo on social media during our #PorTuFamilia campaign and eventually we met at the American Diabetes Association’s Feria de Salud when he arrived to volunteer.

As time went on I saw some of the amazing work he was doing thru his You Tube channel and I invited him to become a featured contributor here at Sofrito For Your Soul since most of you love Latin cuisine. Ronaldo is not only joining the Latino Health conversation… he will be a great source of inspiration on how you can eat healthy and retain your Latino culinary heritage.

Join me in giving Ronaldo a warm welcome…

BuenProvecho!

Urban Jibaro

And now… Chef Ronaldo in his own words.

Before we start, I want to introduce myself. My name is Ronaldo Linares, I am a Cuban-Colombian, salsa dancing, MMA fighting, crossfit training, classically trained chef, living his dream here in the United States of America.

I first got here when I was 9 years old from Colombia. Put it this way, I was there during the Cartel wars and saw too many deaths before I was like 5 or 6 years old.. So not too many good memories there. But my family has always been able to keep those bad memories at bay. However, being with the family and all that goodness that comes with it, made all the good shine through. Anyway, so who am I? I’m a person that loves life, a person that loves food. A person that loves to eat, so I guess that’s why I’m a chef. But I don’t really like to classify myself as a chef I guess. I’m just someone that loves to create food — amazing food, for people to eat. And lately I’ve been on a journey on the last couple of years, focusing on health and brining back flavors to our Latin food, allowing the food to shine. You know, I’ve been seeing Latin food being added with too much fat, too much crap basically. When I tell a lot of people, “Yo, Latin food is healthy and delicious.” They say, “Healthy??? No it’s not. It can’t be healthy. You can’t make Latin without frying or using too much grease”, which is I think is BS, bogus. Not cool at all. So I’ve been trying to change the traditional thinking of Latin food and bringing the health twist to it for the last couple of years and through this blog, I want to accomplish the same. I will talk about my sofrito, my seasonings, my blends, my techniques, my ways of cooking amazing food.

You could find my easy to follow recipes on my YouTube channel, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/RonaldosCocina

Here is a sample of what you will find…

Thank you.

Ronaldo Linares

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