Watch Out World: Entrepreneur Johanna Mirpuri Is “Momma Cuisine”
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Johanna Marie Mirpuri, author of Simple Salad Cookbook, TV host of In The Kitch with Momma Cuisine, creator of the food blog Momma Cuisine (photo by Maypole Studios).
“I’ve always shared what I know with moms like me who are busy. They need all the help. Not everyone can cook till midnight or from scratch.”
Johanna’s salad cookbook comes at an opportune time, when most people are on self-quarantine and looking for ways to stay healthy.
“A salad cookbook was my chance to show people ways to make 100 salad recipes.”
In response to food shortages and fewer trips to the market, Johanna says, “In my cookbook, I use grocery ingredients which are easy to find. We make the most of what’s there. Use as little as possible.”
In Simple Salads, Johanna shares how to cook from scratch or use store-bought products: “Who has time to make pickled beets or glazed nuts? But if you want to, I can show you how.”
Johanna is youthful and exuberant in person and online; her authenticity encompasses trends and pop culture. Her story in America starts when her family moved to the States.
Simple Salad Cookbook: 100 Recipes That Can Be Made in Minutes by Johanna Marie Mirpuri (photo by Iaian Bagwell).
“I was born in the Philippines. We moved here when I was nine. We first lived in the (San Francisco) Bay Area.”
Johanna’s experience in the food industry began in college.
“I worked as a hostess in a Chicago restaurant. I loved the restaurant business and people’s reaction to eating.”
Later, she became a restaurant manager. Then, pregnant with her youngest, and home most of the time, she took up blogging, as friends had suggested. She started “Momma Cuisine” for fun. Johanna was surprised when a total stranger tried her recipe. She then studied the business of social media.
“I researched brands and how people consume them.” She created her own cooking show In the Kitch With Momma Cuisine. She put business in recipe-sharing. Food was a gateway.
As an entrepreneur, Johanna generates revenue, through self-owned platforms like her television show, her blog and strong following on social media. She has built partnerships with brands she selects carefully. Johanna admits it wasn’t easy.
“ My biggest challenge was a male-dominated culinary industry. I was a young mother. I had to work 18 hours a day and then come home to my babies. “
Her answer to these challenges: “Authenticity is what I have offered my followers.”
Johanna goes beyond the brands she represents. “I am the everyday woman trying to live, providing for my kids, and using food as a vehicle to communicate and bring families together.”
This was Johanna’s strength in the business. “It doesn’t matter if I’m talking to one or 10,000. People are going to eat regardless of how many followers I have. I’m here to help the cook.”
“Johanna’s salad cookbook comes at an opportune time, when most people are on self-quarantine and looking for ways to stay healthy.”
Johanna shares mainstream American cooking to a vast audience. But, at home, her children’s favorites are Filipino dishes. “My kids love sinigang and homey stuff like picadillo.”
Before the pandemic, Johanna had shifted gears and ventured into insurance entrepreneurship.
“ I’m about to be an agency owner. The insurance business has taught me so much. Unlike my food business, I can bring on partners in a financial venture.”
Family life is her core as she starts every day with prayer for spiritual strength. Before the kids are up, she’s cooking. “I take the time to make meals for my family.”
Aside from her cookbook, Johanna is most proud of her ability to demonstrate to her kids that hard work and dedication can take them anywhere.
“Entrepreneurship is complex. You have to be a student of yourself, of those who mentor you. You have to choose a side and stay there. You cannot grow in business if you don’t grow.”
Johanna acknowledged that growing starts with oneself. “You can’t build on a weak foundation.”
Momma Cuisine has reached the 10-year mark in the food business, with plans beyond the pandemic. She wants to help people cook better with new products she will create.
“Whether it’s food or financial business, I want to keep expanding my territory.”
Johanna Mirpuri leans on her parents and children Elijah, Sofia, and Samantha, to keep her inspired through the volatile times. Momma Cuisine values this: “I hope my kids see that it’s not really the big moments in life, but it’s the discipline. Even with setbacks, you recreate yourself, become better, stronger and wiser.”
Try Johanna’s Summer Garden Caesar Panzanella Salad in our Happy Home Cook.
Elizabeth Ann Quirino
Elizabeth Ann Quirino, based in New Jersey is a journalist and author of the “Instant Filipino Recipes: My Mother’s Philippine Food In a Multicooker Pot” Cookbook. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and blogs about Filipino home cooking on her site AsianInAmericaMag.com.
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