- Following 2K
- Followers 11.9K
- Engagement 1.81%
- Avg likes 173
- Avg comments 22
About Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer
Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer (@blaxicocina) is a Digital creator creator on Instagram, also filed under Travel. The account has 11,851 followers and 119 published posts. Recent posts average 173 likes and 22 comments, an engagement rate of 1.81%.
With 11.9K followers, Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer is a micro creator by the common 10,000 to 100,000 definition. Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer follows 1,981 accounts, so the audience is roughly 6 times the size of the list followed. Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer uses an Instagram professional account. Flinque files Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer under Digital creator, with Travel as a secondary category.
The Instagram bio for Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer runs to 17 words across 3 lines. Emoji sit alongside the words. The latest activity Flinque has on record for Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer dates from December 2025.
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119 Posts
Of the 10 most recent posts shown for Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer, 5 are carousels and 5 are videos. No single format accounts for most of them. 119 published posts give Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer a moderate archive on Instagram. Against the audience, that is roughly 100 followers for each post published. Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer also keeps 1 story highlight on the profile. All 10 carry captions, averaging 176 words each. Words that recur across them include myself, i've, first, black and because. The captions tag #tbt, #lulo, #blaxicocina, #tiannaalejandra and #dinnerparty.
Stuck at home, I baked cakes for everyone in my family and sent them their desserts in the mail. 💌 Then, I started making ice cream.
But I'm Tiara "Do everything on the highest degree of difficulty" Darnell, so of course my ice cream was extra special. I made it from goat milk instead of cow milk because I'd read that goat milk is similar to human milk so it's healthier and easier to digest for lactose-sensitive folks like myself.
The trial learning process was so fun! It was culinary, creative, and scientific. The “mistakes” were delicious. And it was instant joy when I started sharing it. People can't help but smile when you say, “I make ice cream.”
What started as a creative outlet grew into a tiny business. I sold ice cream from a secret kitchen and at local farmer's markets for about a year. But behind every pint sold was a quiet truth I was only just beginning to understand: turning a passion into a business is not always sweet. There are unexpected start up costs, unheard of laws and regulations, and the biggest truth of all that your bills don’t care about your joy 🤑😩.
But anyway, all that to say, if you’ve got something creative tugging at you, something small but definitely able to be monetized—try it out! If working for money must exist, let it coexist with your happiness.
My ice cream boss chapter was short. I ended up moving to Mexico in 2021. But the experience was the earliest example of me taking a step toward building my own dream instead of someone else's. It was work. But it was fun and there was always ice cream at the end of the day. 🍨
📸
1. Butter Pecan
2. Golden Oreo Milk and Cookies
3. Hazelnut and Cocoa Nibs
4. Brownie
5. Blackberry, goat cheese, and serrano 🌶️
6. The greatest logo of all time for my goat milk ice cream
7. Getting ready for a tasting party with friends
for hosting us!
It was an afternoon freestyle paint and sip for creatives and foodies: We enjoyed a refreshing mango and avocado salad with cherry tomatoes and a #lulo and cilantro salsa verde, guava bbq drizzled fried chicken sliders with Haitian pikliz (slaw), and for dessert, a roasted strawberry and pineapple shortcake parfait.
The feedback is the whole experience was 10/10! Looking forward to the next time!
I'll save the details for my forthcoming newsletter and blog—I've finally accepted that Instagram is not my medium. I express myself better through thoughtful writing, which this app and so many short attention spans on here don't appreciate.
Anyway, once you've been your own boss, it's hard to want things any other way, so between gig work, I've been laying the groundwork for my own comeback, figuring out how to take an even *smaller* step back into the world of community building abroad through food entrepreneurship. Directing my energy to new things like meeting new friends and creative hustlers through attending their own experiences and workshops, watching my friends develop their crafts, and living more quietly, has definitely helped me find my path.
I’m finally getting close to doing a test run of something new I've been working on and it’s inspired by an event I used to host regularly at Blaxicocina but reimagined for Cali, this new place and moment I'm in. Instead of rushing to get it going, I'm taking my time and creating a system first, getting everything ready so I'm not building as I'm going, reminding myself that it's just a test run without pressure to repeat. So far my body and mind are dancing to the same rhythm. It feels like I'm in a position for a win to feel fully like a win and that's exciting. 🖤
Recently, a new friend invited me to try out a cooking experience she and a chef friend are planning to offer tourists and others interested in learning about the culinary traditions of the Colombian Afro-Pacific region. We made 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘰 𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰 or smoked (baby 🥲) shark simmered in an aromatic coconut gravy with familiar ingredients like green onions and sweet bell peppers, and some new to me including a handful of herbs whose names I promptly forgot lol, and that the chef picked from in front of her neighbor's yard on the walk back to the kitchen from the market.
It was something about the magic of watching the fresh, creamy, coconut milk get squeezed right into the pot, and the smell of the 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘰 cooking down that brought me back to the memory of my old tradition and the sensation of sweating down, peppers, onions, and celery— the "holy trinity"—for shrimp and grits.
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Solía preparar camarones con sémola de maíz, para el brunch cada Navidad. Es un plato de Nueva Orleans, Louisiana que me encanta.
Hace poco una amiga me invitó a una experiencia culinaria centrada en las tradiciones de la región Afro-Pacífica de Colombia. Cocinamos encocado de tollo, tiburón ahumado cocido en una salsa aromática de coco, con cebolla larga, pimentón dulce e hierbas, unas que recogimos del jardín de una vecina.
Ver la leche de coco fresca y recién expirmida directamente a la olla, oler el refrito calentando en el aceite, todo me llevó de vuelta a la memoria de mi antigua tradición. Al placer de cocinar algo rico con amigos queridos.
Opening a restaurant in México was not on the bingo card but neither was this whole past year surviving on basically $500/month for everything and still managing to live in Brazil and Colombia while still maintaining a presence in Mexico. 16 year old Tiara who was obsessed with learning Spanish and listening to Buena Vista Social Club would be so hype, and so proud!
So funny, I'd forgotten that we'd done this. And now finally seeing the episode makes me smile. It's the subtext for me — all this representation of Black Americans choosing life abroad and finding or creating soft places to land and thrive. More more more of that! 🫰🏾
Tiara — cooked up three courses and a dessert with flavors inspired by her experiences living in México and Brasil but rooted in Black American culture from the U.S. Some of the plates were also on the menu at her restaurant
Mexico City's first Black Soul Food restaurant.
1. Esquites: a popular street food snack typically made with cacahuazintle, a large, white variety of Mexican corn that's simmered with herbs and served with crema, lots of cheese, lime and tajín spice. Tiara's version was made with sweet corn, a summer season favorite of Black families in the Maryland/DC area where Tiara grew up.
2. Smothered Quesadilla: This dish was inspired by quesadillas, an easy after school snack Tiara used to make for her little brother and Oaxacan Enmoladas, a dish that's all about the southern Mexican traditional of mole, a sacred and labor intensive sauce. We ate this with a marinated Black eyed pea salad similar to Brazilian vinaigrette and Mexican pico de gallo.
3. Gumbo: a quintessential dish from the Southern African American kitchen in New Orleans, Louisiana but with roots across the Black diaspora. Everyday Brazilian ingredients like linguiça e quiabo or sausage and okra, plus chicken went into this.
4. Maça Crisp: a play on apple pie and Mexican tostada culture, this dessert was served with a fried pastel (the Brazilian version of an empanada) dough coated in cinnamon and sugar topped with butter-cooked apples, coconut granola, sweet cream and shortbread cookie crumbles.
#blaxicocina #tiannaalejandra #dinnerparty #afrotourism #blackwomeninfood
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To reiterate, since people are still just finding out/still asking: BLX closed because our landlord was trifling and because I was burnt tf out. I'm taking a break. Coming home to myself. Figuring out what feels like the right next steps. Forward motion only. People who want to see me win only. 🥂
Hoy celebramos el día internacional de las mujeres afrodecentes y deseo a todas mis hermanas lo que he añoro para mí hoy: descanso y menos estrés. ¿Por qué? Porque mañana seguiremos luchando para hacer que todo se haga bien, de todos modos.
.
.
I'm Tiara Darnell, the afrodecendent woman behind this BLAck + MeXIcan + COCINA = BLAXICOCINA.
On this day, we celebrate international day of afrodecendent women and on this day I'm wishing to all my sisters out there what I've embraced for myself today, rest and less stress. Why? Because tomorrow we'll keep pushing and get it all done anyway.
Thumbnails are unavailable for 10 of these 10 posts. Open a tile to view the post on Instagram.
Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer's engagement
Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer's engagement rate on Instagram is 1.81%, between 1% and 3%, or 1 to 3 likes and comments per 100 followers. On a typical post that comes to about 1 like or comment for every 55 followers. Comments stay close to likes on Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer's posts, at 173 likes and 22 comments on average, about 7.9 likes per comment.
Engagement rate
1.81%
- Avg likes
- 173
- Avg comments
- 22
- Interactions : followers
- 1 : 55
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Who is Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer?
Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer (@blaxicocina) is a Digital creator creator on Instagram, also filed under Travel. Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer uses an Instagram professional account. The Instagram bio for Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer runs to 17 words across 3 lines.
How many followers does Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer have?
Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer has 11,851 followers on Instagram (11.9K). Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer follows 1,981 accounts, so the audience is roughly 6 times the size of the list followed. 119 published posts give Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer a moderate archive on Instagram.
What is Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer's engagement rate?
Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer's engagement rate on Instagram is 1.81%, between 1% and 3%, or 1 to 3 likes and comments per 100 followers. On a typical post that comes to about 1 like or comment for every 55 followers. Comments stay close to likes on Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer's posts, at 173 likes and 22 comments on average, about 7.9 likes per comment.
What does Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer post about on Instagram?
Flinque files Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer under Digital creator, with Travel as a secondary category. Of the 10 most recent posts shown for Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer, 5 are carousels and 5 are videos. The 10 recent Instagram captions Flinque holds for Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer repeatedly use the words myself, i've, first, black and because. Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer's captions carry hashtags such as #tbt, #lulo and #blaxicocina. Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer keeps 1 story highlight, which open with a free Flinque account.
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Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer's contact details are not published on Flinque's public profile. The Instagram bio links to 1 external site, and a free Flinque account opens that link. Brands with a free Flinque account can shortlist Tiara Darnell | Chef, Food & Travel Writer and use Flinque's outreach tools wherever a contact route is on file.
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