Perla Yasmeen Melendez
Perla Yasmeen Meléndez is a chef, artist, educator, and kitchen curandera. She is the owner of Two Mamacitas Pop-Up Kitchen, an Oakland-based catering company specializing in Latin American and Caribbean Cuisine using local, Organic, and seasonal ingredients.
In addition to preparing food for celebrations of all kinds, Perla pulls from her lifelong herbal studies and deep-rooted ancestral traditions to prepare healing and intentional foods for people in times of transition. She believes in the medicinal power of foods, and prepares each recipe lovingly and ceremoniously, conjuring healing effects for all those who eat her food. She loves prescribing personalized recipes for those who have just given birth, are recovering from surgery or sickness, going through menopause, or journeying through the grieving process. Her kitchen is the most magical medicine cabinet!
Perla is inspired by Mother Nature's color palette, intelligence, and resilience. She believes that using plants to heal is a revolutionary act. (She loves revolutionary acts!) She loves harnessing the healing power of plants in her cooking, artwork, and daily life. Perla spends most of her time cooking, daydreaming about what to cook next, swooning at all the produce at farmer’s markets and at the Berkeley Bowl, and caring for her plants.