Cookie Martinez

“I like it here in my little box,” says Colombia transplant Cookie Martinez as she leans outside the serving window of her bright red shipping container at Market 707. She is the sole proprietor and only chef at the Cookie Martinez Colombian Street Food stall, located very close to Bathurst and Dundas, just west of the bustling Dundas Square core. Hers is one of the many “boxes” in the area selling ethnic and street fare.

Cookie, a.k.a Natalia Martinez, studied modern languages in Colombia and felt inspired to travel to the United States on a work/holiday visa in December 2003. When she lost her administrative assistant role with the government in March 2012, she decided to start her own business. While working for the government, Cookie had taken a few classes in baking art from George Brown College. This lit a spark in her – a spark that fuelled what’s now become a rare statement in Colombian cuisine in Toronto.

“Back home we cook a lot," says Cookie as she presses a dollop of beef filling into an empanada before opening for the lunch crowd. "My mom and grandmother cook all the time. I am not a trained chef, so for some of the recipes, I just pick up the phone and call Mom back home. Just so I can get the feeling that it tastes like home.”