Hi, Im Dani and that’s me with my grandparents Rose and Harry!

Mamala hand-held snacks are flavor-packed culinary remixes–or even mixtapes, reassembling the memories, flavors, and textures from when I was growing up in Flushing, Queens in the 1980s. There was a kind of perfect storm of cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities cranking out a huge playlist (to go with the metaphor) of interesting dishes.

Everyone ate from the same multicultural, comforting smorgasbord. Food was the common language. There was Jewish food, Chinese food, Middle-Eastern food, Latino food, Indian food—and more! It was magical and I decided I wanted to recreate that magic by riffing on iconic foods like empanadas, tamales, matzoh balls, chow mein, shakshukas, bourakas, and other new combinations that are still familiar, comforting and evocative of growing up in a harmoniously diverse corner of New York City.

Our take on the empanada is a “Yentenada” and we make many iterations of it; the one I call “The Nosh” has salami and eggs in it, and that brings me right back to my Jewish grandmother’s kitchen. The one I call “It’s Not Kosher” is filled with shrimp, chorizo, and sweet potato.

Mamalas spin on the tamale a “Matzomale.” Instead of using matzo instaed of masa. And instead of wrapping it in a corn husk, I wrap it in savoy cabbage.

Maybe this idea of creating delicious medleys of foods that have successfully crossed cultural divides came to me now because the concept of a “melting pot” seems to have fallen out of favor. No matter the reason, all Mamala bites are easy to hold and eat—and they pair especially well with cocktails, late-night or anytime.