Viral Food Star Shares Perfect Holiday Recipes & 2023
With nearly 1 million followers on social media, Omi Hopper, best known as CookingConOmi across her socials, made the leap from successful makeup artist to TikTok cooking star within a matter of months at the start of the pandemic and has built an entire Cooking Con Omi brand only in the last few years. With more opportunities than ever, she has a busy 2023 ahead and would love to share with you the perfect holiday recipes for any occasion.
The pandemic shutdown compelled Hopper to head to the kitchen with her camera. With a husband and four sons, she was constantly making delicious food for the whole family and if she recorded herself cooking, she could keep her Puerto Rican traditions alive and keep herself busy, especially at the height of lockdowns. Born in Rio Grande Puerto Rico, Omi moved to Providence, Rhode Island at the age of 11. She fondly remembers the summers she spent at her grandparents’ farm in Puerto Rico and wanted to keep those traditions alive for herself and her own children.
What she created clearly resonated with fans all around the world. Her videos went viral nearly immediately, getting 10s of thousands of views. "Cooking Con Omi" (Cooking with Omi) has more than half a million followers on TikTok, 279k followers on Instagram and over 56,000 followers on YouTube.
Cooking up classic Puerto Rican fare like chuletas fritas (pork chops), arroz con habichuelas (rice and beans) and croquetas de mangú (plantain croquettes), Hopper wants to bring people back to her childhood to those memorable moments with family. Followers often reach out to her personally to let her know that her food has connected them to their past, distant relatives and even loved ones that have passed. Hopper is thrilled that her followers can pass her recipes to their own families and wants to carry Puerto Rican traditions along for generations to follow.