Find thousands of Bilingual jobs at LatPro.com.

Personally, I am a HUGE Food Network junkie. And although Latinos have been represented on the network by Venezuelan-born Ham on the Street host George Duran, the themes have never really been Latino focused. Aside from the occasional “taco dinner night” by Paula Deen or a “paella with a twist” by Giada De Laurentiis, there has never been any real “home cooked” Hispanic meals. Until Colombian-born and Miami-transplant Ingrid Hoffman was signed on. They recently showcased her at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in February; which has become a huge and pricey celeb-fest here in Miami. It’s amazing to see how many shows they shot here that week.

Her new show “Simply Delicioso,” will be airing Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. beginning July 14, Hoffman will take her place as the network’s first Latina host. She comes to the Food Network from a cable show Delicioso on Galavision and segments on Univision’s Despierta America. There are many Spanish-language stars who have tried to cross over to English but have not always successfully. But media experts think Hoffmann, 42, has a shot. For starters, food is common ground for all cultures. Now that’s very insightful…NOT!

According to Bob Tuschman, the Food Network’s senior vice-president for programming and production, Hoffmann’s success in Spanish underscores her appeal. He said the network was impressed by her take on Latin food. “Ingrid has a sparkling personality, a breezy way of making cooking approachable and a passion to take classics and give them a Latin twist,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Read the rest of this entry »