About José Luis Villalobos

José Luis Villalobos grew up in Valparaíso, Chile — a port city shaped by immigration, trade, and food cultures from across the world. From an early age, food was the language of connection in his family.

Chilean cuisine was the foundation. But curiosity took him further.

Over the years, José traveled extensively through Latin America and the Caribbean — Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and beyond. In each country, he did what he always does: went to the markets, talked to the cooks, ate at the family tables, and learned.

Colombia holds a special place. The food of Medellín, Cartagena, and the Colombian coast — bandeja paisa, arepas de chócolo, sancocho, coastal seafood — shaped his understanding of what Latin food can be at its most generous and complex. He has returned multiple times and considers Colombian cuisine one of the world’s most underrated.

Peru changed how he thinks about acid, heat, and technique. Brazil showed him the breadth of a continent’s table. Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica taught him that Caribbean food is not one cuisine but many — each island with its own identity, its own pantry, its own way of feeding people.

Today José is based in Sacramento, California, where he visits Latino and Caribbean markets every week, sources authentic ingredients, and cooks the food of the Americas at home daily. Every recipe on this site has been cooked in his kitchen. Every ingredient recommendation has been bought and tested personally.

Professionally, he runs a digital marketing agency in Sacramento. But Sazón y Tumbao exists outside of that world. This is personal.

Sazón y Tumbao exists because this food deserves to be documented properly — with the sazón it was cooked with, and the tumbao of the people who created it.

Sazón y Tumbao is not a content factory. It’s a kitchen with a beat.