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¡Saludos! Happy Friday and welcome to comprende, edition 063.

Picture this: a young woman in Mexico City studying food like art history believes every dish holds cultural secrets. Years later, she's hand-crafting thousands of modern-day alegrías, turning an ancient Aztec grain into modern American success.

Today we are diving into the story of Seena Chriti of Paktli Foods, who spent decades as a "investigadora gastronómica" [gastronomic researcher] before transforming her philosophy into something you can taste.

So, depending on where you are in the world, grab your cafecito or cervecita and dive in. If you enjoy today’s edition, please forward it to your gente or share it online. Let’s keep growing this comunidad together. ☕️

comprende 063: Reviving a Sacred Snack: Latina Founder Seena Chriti Brings New Life to Mexican Alegrías with Paktli Foods

In the heart of Mexico City, at a university called Claustro de Sor Juana, a young Seena Chriti sat in a classroom that would forever change how she saw the world. But this wasn't a typical culinary school. The director, an academic engineer with a radical vision, had assembled a brilliant team of philosophers, anthropologists, psychologists, artists, all doctorate holders who had studied food from their own unique disciplines.

"Tuve clases de sociología y comida, arte y comida, filosofía y entendí que la comida podía ser vista desde un punto de vista académico, no solamente manual" [I had classes on sociology and food, art and food, philosophy, and I understood that food could be seen from an academic point of view, not just manual], Chriti recalls. For five years, 60% of her classes were theoretical explorations of food's deeper meanings.

Here's the twist that would make her professors smile: "¿Lo podrías creer? No me gustaba cocinar" [Can you believe it? I didn't like to cook]. Instead, she approached food like an art historian approaches a Picasso–not to recreate it, but to understand its cultural DNA. "Me gustaba como yo veía la comida como los historiadores del arte ven al arte. No pintan pero lo aprecian y lo estudian" [I liked how I saw food the way art historians see art. They don't paint but they appreciate and study it].

When Chriti graduated and moved to the United States, she carried this philosophy across borders. In Miami, she found herself in front of PBS en Español cameras, creating segments that were anything but typical cooking shows. "Yo elegía la comida que quería hablar de cierto país" [I chose the food I wanted to talk about from a certain country], filming 19 episodes across different nations, each time introducing herself as "investigadora gastronómica" [gastronomic researcher], a title that let her shape-shift between storyteller, historian, and cultural translator with food at the center.

Later, in Pennsylvania, she did the same for ABC in English, always focusing on Latino foods, always digging deeper than recipes. "Los programas de tele de competencia me parecían una babosada" [Competition TV shows seemed like nonsense to me], she says with characteristic directness. She dreamed of something like Anthony Bourdain's work, but focused on the ceremonial aspects of food, how different cultures eat at weddings, births, celebrations of aging.

But there was one story that had been quietly following her for twenty years, waiting for its moment. Alegrías, those simple Mexican street snacks made with amaranth that carried a history that embodied everything she believed about food's cultural power.

The Aztecs and Mayans had used amaranth ceremonially, understanding instinctively what modern nutritionists needed degrees to discover: this grain contained complete proteins their bodies craved. "Era considerado sagrado" [It was considered sacred], Chriti explains. When Spanish colonizers arrived, they banned amaranth precisely because it was so integral to indigenous spiritual practices. The grain nearly went extinct.

Centuries later, Mexican street vendors had revived it in the form of alegrías–16th-century sweets that eventually incorporated chocolate. But by the time Chriti encountered them in her teens, quality had deteriorated. "En México le agregan hasta corn flakes a veces a las alegrías" [In Mexico they sometimes even add corn flakes to alegrías], she says, shaking her head.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, after two decades in the United States, something crystallized. "Yo creo que necesité 20 años de vivir en Estados Unidos para poder hacerlo" [I think I needed 20 years of living in the United States to be able to do it]. She rented space in an incubator kitchen and began the most meditative work of her life.

Starting alone, Chriti began making alegrías by hand. "Me gustaba la parte repetitiva de hacer algo muchas veces, me da mucha paz" [I liked the repetitive part of making something many times, it gives me great peace]. Soon, her team grew to seven women, producing 3,000 pieces daily, each one crafted with the precision of someone who understood she wasn't just making snacks, she was preserving and elevating a cultural artifact.

But Chriti wasn't interested in faithful reproduction. How can I create alegrías for today’s consumer? Consulting with a woman from Oaxaca who shared ancestral recipes, she began her own experiments. "Si en México le ponen corn flakes, yo le puedo poner quinoa y millet para hacerlos más fáciles de vender" [If in Mexico they add corn flakes, I can add quinoa and millet to make them easier to sell]. She was creating what she calls "alegrías inspiradas" [inspired alegrías], honoring the tradition while meeting modern nutritional expectations.

The moment everything changed came from an unexpected source. A Kroger buyer, impressed by her product, gave her crucial advice: to scale, she needed machinery. This began a two-year odyssey of finding both the right equipment (eventually located in Germany) and the funding to buy it. The journey nearly broke her, but when she finally secured both machine and co-packer, Paktli Foods was truly born and ready for retail.

Recognition followed in waves. She was selected as one of eight brands out of hundreds of applicants for PepsiCo's Greenhouse Accelerator, where she learned a statistic that changed her perspective: "20% de la población de Estados Unidos es latina y somos los que más negocios estamos generando" [20% of the US population is Latino and we're the ones generating the most businesses]. "Me dejé de sentir sola" [I stopped feeling alone].

Then came Natural Products Expo in New York, where she won the audience choice award. The Samuel Adams accelerator in Boston followed, connecting her with fellow entrepreneurs across three cities. Each pitch, each program, each small victory built toward something larger.

Now, as Paktli Foods prepares to launch in Sprouts' Innovation Section and she awaits final word on Whole Foods' LEAP program, Chriti reflects on the weight that success hasn't lifted. "No me quitan el peso de encima" [They don't take the weight off my shoulders], she says of her achievements. The entrepreneur's burden, that constant pressure of responsibility, growth, survival–remains.

But there's something else in her voice when she talks about Mexican friends tasting her alegrías for the first time: "Son mejores que las de ellos" [They're better than theirs]. It's not just pride; it's the satisfaction of someone who has spent twenty years understanding that food is never just food; it's history, identity, and hope, wrapped in an organic, gluten-free package that tastes like chocolate-infused dreams.

In Paktli Foods’ kitchen, ancient Aztec wisdom meets modern American retail sensibilities, one perfectly crafted alegría at a time. And Seena Chriti, the woman who once did’t like to cook but could decode food's cultural mysteries, has finally found her perfect recipe for success.

If you enjoyed this story, you’ll probably love our videos on Instagram, you can check them out on IG @comprendelatino or by clicking below.

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