The first season of The Great American Recipe has wrapped on PBS and Silvia Martinez has been declared the winner of Season 1. And following her win, we had the opportunity to chat with the winner.
Not only did we talk about what it was like to be a part of the series, but also what it was like for her to be able to share her food with the world. This was a chance for us to talk to Silvia about this entire experience and even have a little fun (yes, we asked her about her favorite guilty eat).
So if you are a fan of The Great American Recipe and it’s inaugural winner, Silvia Martinez, then this interview is for you.
Silvia Martinez talks to Guilty Eats about her time on The Great American Recipe
Guilty Eats: What was it like when they announced your name and your dish as the winner?
Silvia Martinez: “So, I think I was in shock because you know at that point there were three of us, Foo and Robin they were amazing cooks right so it was anybody’s win.
When they announced my name I was like oh my gosh, I couldn’t believe that was happening. And I do remember that immediately Foo hugged me and my husband arrived and it was just all a blur, but it was such a very exciting, emotional moment for me.”
GE: So overall, what was the experience being on The Great American Recipe like for you?
SM: “I would just say that it was a life changing experience for me. You know your life is full of these beautiful moments that happen to you when you open those doors. And I think for me, this was one of those because a lot of things had to come together to enable you to do something as wonderful as this experience. So it taught me a lot of things about myself, about my family, about the way I see things, and a different perspective of food. So it’s been an amazing experience and I would repeat it in a heartbeat.”
GE: Would you want to do any other cooking competition now that you’ve done this?
SM: “That is a very interesting question. I think I would like to focus right now on my own business, which is my blog Mama Latina Tips where I’ve been publishing recipes for a few years. And start looking more into connecting with a great community that I found thanks to the show. I will never say no to anything, because you don’t know what the future awaits. But I think at this point, I would like to focus on that and maybe doing some cooking classes or working more on what can I give to the community. How can I keep expanding my passion for food.”
GE: Thinking about the overall show and all the different challenges you had, was there one challenge that you were just like, ‘this is my favorite and I loved every moment of this?’
SM: “I can think of few of them. I think that probably when I’m making the Pozole Verde, which was episode seven, the DNA recipe. I felt very calm. I felt that I was doing everything on time it’s a dish that I make quite often and actually it was the first dish that I wrote on my blog, it’s the first time I called my mom like give me that recipe. And I just felt like it was one day before the finale, I was thinking I’m going to have fun. I’m just gonna cook on my own rhythm. I’m going to enjoy cooking with these amazing cooks next to me, and I loved every moment of it.”
GE: I know you guys have a cookbook from the show, are you going to try some of your fellow home cooks recipes now?
SM: ” Absolutely. I started making my list. Some dishes I was able to try there on set, not all of them, but those that resonate more with me and I couldn’t try are making my list. But also now that I watched the show, because you know when you’re there you don’t see a lot of what’s happening behind you. I mean, I can see Nikki and Foo because they were so close to me, but I couldn’t see what the rest of them were doing. So watching the show has been fantastic because I know I want to make that, and I want to make that, and actually I also talked to a few of them to see if maybe we can do a live or something we can do with all the recipes. I don’t know, it’s another idea. But yes, I can’t wait to have the cookbook in my hands.”
GE: The last question I have, and I always ask everybody, but what is your guilty eat?
SM: “That is very hard because I never want to feel guilty about eating something delicious. Right? Right! Let me think. Well, you’re gonna laugh about this, but if you put a couple of pounds of cherries in front of me, I will see that and I will eat them all at once.”
If you want to follow Silvia Martinez’s journey post The Great American Recipe, check out her social media as well!