“Belqui’s Twist” food blogger shares cooking journey, struggles as a mom

We delve in to one of the most important aspects of Hispanic culture: Food. Belqui Millili, a home chef and food blogger raised in the Dominican Republic and New York, now living in Arizona. She discusses what else she’s deeply passionate about.

Many people have found you on social media. You call yourself Belqui’s twist because of the unique latin flavor, or latin twist on some of these recipes. How would you describe the flavors of Dominican food?

Millilli defines Dominican food as a cuisine with a lot of flavor, dispelling the misconception that Dominican food is spicy. “It’s not spicy. It just has a lot of flavor.”

“So when you’re eating it, you take a bite, of let’s say pollo guisado, which is our stewed chicken. You take a bite of that and the sauce, and it’s like, your tastebuds just kind of flourish, it’s unbelievable…You taste the oregano, and the cilantro as well. We put a lot of ingredients into our food, and that’s why it tastes so good.”

What was the process in you getting featured in a cookbook?

Millili says that a few friends reached out to her while starting their website asking about collaborating, which she agreed to. Making a cookbook was “the natural progression,” according to her.

“Like everything, it just kind of happened. And the book is amazing. Everyone should really give it a try because the recipes in there, imagine all these different countries. It’s like a nugget of gold throughout the whole book.”

You also are featured in the book ‘For the love of autism’ because you are really passionate about education and advocacy for autism. You are the mom of a child with autism, who is now 13 years old, almost 14. Tell me about what made you decide to be so vulnerable in this book.

“I feel that people don’t necessarily understand when a family has a child with a disability, whether it’s autism, cerebral palsy, whatever it is, and when I was approached to do it, I took the opportunity to explain my experience,” Millili said.