Before Soy Nguyen moved to L.A. from Jacksonville, Florida, she thought Mexican food was synonymous with Chipotle—which she bravely admits to L.A. TACO.
Nguyen has lived in L.A. since 2014, over that time developing a fanbase of over one million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined.
She frequents mom and pop restaurants throughout Southern California, documenting homemade recipes and generations-long practices. Tacos are among her favorite foods, and you can see her visiting acclaimed brick-and-mortars like Holbox and lowkey street stands like Tacos La Patrona on her social media pages.
“I was just enthralled by these pockets of culture [when I moved],” Nguyen tells L.A. TACO.
When Nguyen first arrived to L.A., she lived in a studio in the back of someone’s property, paying about $750 per month.
“I think moving to California was very healing for me as well, because I saw so many people embracing being Vietnamese and also other Asian cultures,” Nguyen says. “So it was a very new experience. It almost felt like moving to a new country, almost, because Florida is Florida.”
Nguyen grew up as one of the only Vietnamese kids at school and was raised by a single mother alongside her five siblings. As a safeguard for her children, Nguyen’s mother “wanted to help them almost blend into American culture,” a form of assimilation that many immigrant families unfortunately feel pressured into practicing.
Beyond posting food reviews showcasing local eats, Nguyen’s content also includes videos about her mother’s recipes and mental health awareness.
“I started posting on Instagram, just for fun, on my personal page,” Nguyen tells L.A. TACO. Her current Instagram page, which has amassed nearly 300,000 followers, was originally used to share food photos with her social circle in 2016.
In 2017, she started befriending other food bloggers and creating content with them, describing the process of trying restaurants and posting about them as “very natural.”
With a degree in production and a childhood spent watching Food Network, Nguyen’s short-form content, featuring herself, took off despite her feeling used to being behind the camera.
“[In] 2020, when the pandemic happened, TikTok started up—I saw that there was a good opportunity to use that platform as a way to help the small businesses,” Nguyen says.
Because many people were unsure about how to safely support their favorite restaurants, Nguyen said that she felt compelled to show audiences how businesses were maintaining protocol. This was also a chance to help out businesses by way of promotion.
“I took it upon myself to be like, ‘You know what? I'm gonna film videos of me, like going to these places, picking up.’ Or me ordering this food or eating it in my car, just to share the stories of these businesses and how you can go out and support them,” she recalls.
Nguyen says that she gave rainbow bagels and Hot Cheetos-dusted foods a try like many other food bloggers, but “novelty-based” foodporn trends have never been her forte.
“I really tried to focus on the stories of small businesses, because that's what I enjoy eating,” Nguyen says. “That's what I enjoy telling people to try, and that's what I've always continued to push on my content. To kind of not push what's viral, but really what is true to me and what I think is important.”
Last June, one of Nguyen’s videos documented her dinner at El Patroncito Mexican Cuisine in South Park, where she tried comfort dishes such as caldo de camarón and carne asada torta.
“I was not gonna film today, but I saw this empty Mexican restaurant,” Nguyen tells the audience.
As the camera pans across the restaurant, showing off the homey decor with many nods to Mexico, Nguyen writes on-screen, “It’s sad to see so many DTLA spots impacted by the raids, protests, and curfews.”
The charm of highlighting small businesses lies in the close proximity between idea and creation, according to Nguyen.
“I don't want to say that there's anything bad with big corporations or big dining experiences as well, because there's a lot of love in that as well, but there's sometimes a little bit more hands that touch it, and you don't get that full exchange of energy that I think is really beautiful,” Nguyen says. “It's like watching a big movie production; it has its own charm. But then, when you watch something that is made by your cousin, like a homemade film or something, it’s also a very different feeling.”
Nguyen’s love for food created with care and intention seemingly started at home back in Florida, where it was tough to find Vietnamese ingredients and produce.
Even though Nguyen is now only about an hour from the Vietnamese food haven of Orange County, some of her fans aren’t as fortunate, which is why when someone from Middle America messages her to let her know how good her mom’s bún bò Huế recipe is, it means even more to her.
“They're not even Vietnamese, and they're like, ‘I made this for my family, and they loved it. Just want to let you and your mom know,’” Nguyen says. “This white woman in Texas makes it for her family, like, every month now . . . That's the impact that I love so much about food media now and the ability to share culture through it.”
After gaining a loyal following and reaching new viewers, Nguyen was named “Foodie Influencer of the Year” by the American Influencer Awards in 2021, beating out online chef Joshua Weissman. She was also named one of TikTok’s API Trailblazers in 2022.
Judging from Nguyen’s adoration for her mom’s home-cooking renditions of beloved recipes brought over from Vietnam—and the hardworking mom-and-pop restaurants of L.A., it makes sense she felt compelled to use her platform to voice her support for the victims detained by ICE.
“I have been to so many small businesses. I know so many small business owners and their stories. And how many of them are just like immigrants or children of immigrants that come here and have that dream of sharing their culture through their food,” Nguyen says.
“What I try to do the most is try to go out and support these small businesses and these stories, because I know how hard it is for them right now to even stay afloat, and it's scary for people to even go and just go to work,” she adds.
Nguyen balances her feed with posts showcasing home-cooked meals, impromptu stops at small businesses, and collaborations with brands that support her online mission.
When Nguyen chooses to highlight a taco stand without any customers or an underrated mom-and-pop shop, it’s clear that there is plenty of love and intention backing her decisions.
