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Last week FN made a gesture toward acknowledging the size of this country’s Latino community by announcing it was signing Ingrid Hoffman to a “multi-year deal to star in her own daytime series set to premiere in 2007,” a move that had been hinted at earlier this year. Hoffman made her first appearance as a “Food Network talent” in her hometown of Miami at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival this past weekend. The only other Latino I know of on Food Network right now is Juan-Carlos Cruz, who hosts the horrible diet show Calorie Commando, which shows up late at night.
Hoffman is originally from Colombia (her last name comes from her German grandfather), where she starred in commercials and telenovelas, but was told by casting directors upon her arrival in Miami approximately 20 years ago that she “wasn’t Hispanic enough.” She then turned to cooking, which she had learned from her Cordon Bleu-trained mother (still a consultant on Delicioso), who ran a restaurant in Bogota and a catering company in Florida. She started a restaurant called Rocca, and also ran a boutique called La Capricieuse. Like Ray, Hoffman got her start in the media through a gig on local TV, and took it from there.
