BIO

¡Hola! I’m María del Mar Cuadra, a  food stylist, art director, and cookbook author. My work includes print commercial and editorial, cookbooks, TV commercials, and packaging. I came to food via film, photography, and fashion publishing. These diverse visual influences, as well as a keen interest in consuming both food and words, drive my styling aesthetic to be elegant but lush, always with a notion of storytelling. 

I hold a B.S. in film production from Northwestern University, and graduated top of my class at the French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center). In my salad days I worked at Lucky, Vogue, and America’s Test Kitchen.

I’ve been in the U.S. for about 20 years, but I’m nicaragüense to the core — I can’t go for long without my gallo pinto and tortillas, palm trees, and a chisme from my mama!

I'm  the author of Winter Cocktails , Summer Cocktails (Quirk Books/Random House), and The Quinoa [Keen-Wah] Cookbook (HarperWave).

¡Seguime en Instagram!  @mdm_foodstylist 

"Soy puro pinolero, ¡Nicaragüense por gracia de Dios!"