We make art you can cook with
Meet Chef Jessica Tijerina
Jessica has had a love for cooking with and for others her entire life.
Her own experiences through travel and education have provided her with a unique set of skills and a wide variety of knowledge of local and global cuisine.
She brings flavors not only from some of the greatest cities in the U.S. but of Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Jamaica, Ireland, Cuba, India and more into her dishes.
She has partnered with many local businesses as a brand ambassador, educating the public both on ethnic and local food sustainability working closely with The Northeast Minneapolis Farmer’s Market hosting live interviews, doing virtual market tours, creating content for and doing live Facebook/Instagram food demos each week.
Jessica teaches at The Abundant Kitchen, Nordic Ware and Grand Fête.
She is proprietor of Jessica Tijerina Extraordinary Culinary Education created in 2010 where she leads guests through step-by-step, in-home culinary adventures (virtual classes since March 2020). She has taught over 1000 culinary education classes.
She has recently launched Tijerina Global Spices where she toasts, grinds, and packages her own spice blends focusing on ethnic blends. Each spice blend has zero added preservatives, colors or flavors and they are free of salt, allowing individuals to “salt to taste”.
She appears regularly as a guest chef for ABC affiliate KSTP’s “Twin Cities Live.”
She manages the cooking stage and chef demos for the Minnesota Garlic Festival, hosted by the Sustainable Farming Association. In 2020, was writer, producer, and host of a virtual chef demo series on the MN Garlic Festival Facebook page acquiring nearly 400 followers in less than 6 weeks.
She volunteers her time to Perspectives, Inc. where she helps to fulfill their mission, “Breaking cycles for at-risk families and children for total family recovery”, working in the Kids Café cooking and teaching the importance of healthy, nutritious meals. Jessica works closely with Rose McGee founder of Sweet Potato Comfort Pies as lead baker, whose mission is “to strengthen existing — and nurture new — relationships through the creation and sharing of sweet potato pies. Sweet Potato Comfort Pies are intentionally prepared with love and a commitment to greater understanding, unity and justice.”
She is an advocate for women owned local businesses like Provision Community Restaurant that has a “come as you are, give as you can” business model, leaving no one out and fostering the building of new relationships in the community.