Cocina to Career is my behind-the-scenes look at growing a creative business rooted in cultura, comida, and corazón. I share what it really takes, from rejections to recipe shoots, to turn a passion for Mexican cooking into a full-time career. Subscribe so you don’t miss the real stories, chisme, and lessons I’ve learned along the way.
So… Bloomberg emailed me about tamales
A couple of weeks ago I got one of those emails you never really expect. Bloomberg wanted to talk to me about tamales. Not a new recipe, but the AI slop that has taken over Google searches and social feeds. Suddenly real, trusted food creators are being buried under robot generated “recipes” stitched together by who knows what.
My first reaction was honestly… tamales are competing with AI now? Qué cosa. If someone had told my grandma that her holiday staple would someday have to battle a pinche robot online, she would have laughed. Imagine her saying, “M’ija, a robot is going to copy Mexican food?” Ay Dios mío.
The AI tamales that made me roll my eyes
Bloomberg reached out because I’ve been vocal about the rise of AI created food blogs and the flood of misleading images and untested recipes online. And to show what I meant, I shared a couple of AI generated tamal images I found on Facebook.
Both were from random pages that push out AI photos and link to AI written recipes. And the pictures were… ridiculous.
• One showed tamales drowned in sauce on top of the husks like enchiladas. Anyone who has ever eaten a tamal knows… girl, no.
• The other showed tamales lying flat in a pot. Traditional tamales are steamed upright so the filling stays inside and doesn’t spill out.
Bloomberg ended up publishing the exact screenshots I sent them as part of their reporting.
Bloomberg article: AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet — And Thanksgiving Dinner
Then suddenly… CBS Morning News said my name
The very next morning things got even more surreal.
My followers started messaging me saying, “Yvette! CBS Morning News just mentioned Muy Bueno!” And I’m sitting there thinking… WHAT??? Where? How? I couldn’t find the clip anywhere.
Total surprise.
A few days later CBS finally posted the segment on Instagram and TikTok, and sure enough… there I was. My name. My concerns. My AI tamal examples. On national news.
I just shook my head and laughed. Never in my life did I think tamales would land me in the middle of a national conversation about AI.
The real issue: Tamales, tradition, and trust
And here’s what really hit me. It wasn’t my grandma’s tamales in the spotlight. It was the idea that a traditional dish like tamales, something so special this time of year and something I’ve shared on my blog for 15 years, is now competing with AI generated recipes that have never been tested, measured, or even cooked by human hands.
Ingredients are expensive. Time is precious. So the thought of someone trusting an AI recipe or an AI summary over a real recipe creator… it honestly makes me sad.
My tamale recipes are tried and true and tested. They come from real kitchens, real families, and real traditions.
AI can remix words, but it cannot replace lived experience.
It cannot replace cultura.
It cannot replace corazón.
People want authenticity now more than ever
Seeing how quickly both Bloomberg and CBS picked up this story made me realize something important. People are craving real voices. Real food. Real stories rooted in culture and lived experience.
If you are a creator, this is your reminder.
Use your platform. Share your truth. Warn your audience about AI noise. Build trust by letting people into your kitchen and your process. Community is our most powerful defense against misinformation.
And if you are someone who cooks at home… thank you for supporting real creators. Thank you for choosing recipes made with intention, tradition, and love. Every time you click, comment, review, or share, you help keep real food alive online.
So yes, the robots are here. Yes, they’re trying to make tamales. But we are still here too. And our stories, our voices, our real recipes matter. More than ever.
I’d love to hear from you…
Do you want to learn more about how AI is affecting food creators and the recipes you find online? I’m thinking about diving deeper into this topic, but I’d love to know what you want to hear.
Have you had any AI recipe fails?
Or maybe the opposite… you’ve tried an AI recipe and actually loved it?
Tell me in the comments. I’m genuinely curious.
Con cariño,
Yvette
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Yvette Marquez
Blog: https://muybuenoblog.com/
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This is such a great post! I love your authenticity, we need voices (and recipes!) like yours to keep real food traditions alive in the midst of the AI blahhh. I used to use Pinterest for a lot of recipe inspiration, but lately have definitely noticed more pins that lead to basic recipes with terrible instructions and very AI photos. I certainly use AI for a lot of things, but I don't trust an AI bot to write recipes if it can't taste! I'll stick with the cookbooks and food creators that actually test their recipes and share real food.
YES!!! So happy that you got to talk about this on a national level! We talked about this very thing on my podcast a few months ago (you mentioned your husband and an AI cookie fail!) - I LOVE that you brought more attention to this topic. It’s so important! 🙌💞