I’m Monti. Maybe you’ve seen me on Food Network, Netflix, or way back on MasterChef. Maybe you know me as “the recall lady” or the lady who wants to "save the food". However you got here, I’m really grateful you did.

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I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and grew up between the island and the continental US. Spanglish, my first full-length cookbook, is filled with the food I wish had been on my bicultural table: Mezcla Deviled Eggs, Blood Sausage Sloppy Joes, Bacalaito Onion Rings, and Guanábana Poundcake.

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The book is also my story: how food carried me from being a broke, unemployed single mom just trying to keep the lights on to becoming an award-winning food TV host. It’s about all the messy, beautiful, painful, hilarious parts in between.

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If you live in that space—between cultures, languages, identities—this book is for you. If you’re Boricua or part of the broader Latin diaspora, this book is for you. If you’re going through something hard and need proof that things can change, it’s for you, too.

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I hope Spanglish does for you what it did for me: remind you that home isn’t only a place you leave or return to. It’s a feeling you can build wherever you are, one plate, one story, one bite at a time. Thank you for being here. And thank you for preordering Spanglish.