Isabella Jimenez Brings ‘My Fun Food’ to Your Phone, Kitchen

Isabella Jimenez is a Latina on a mission for health.

At age 12, she had an idea for an app that serves as a digital cookbook where young people can learn to cook easy, healthy recipes and find tips in trivia games. She worked hard preparing recipes, creating and testing an app, and securing funding.

At age 16, she launched the My Fun Food app.

Now age 18, Isabella is an entrepreneur studying business at UT Austin and taking the My Fun Food app – which has a 5.0 rating in the Apple Store – to new levels.

“The main purpose of the app is to provide a resource to the community,” Isabella said. “All the recipes are cost efficient, fast and quick, and easy to make.”

Let’s explore what’s new since the last time Salud America! caught up with Isabella!

Isabella: Graduating to the Next Steps

Isabella and her My Fun Food app have come a long way.

She first had the idea for the app as part of a service project when she was a Student Ambassador for Lee High School in the San Antonio Mayor’s Fitness Council. The group promotes healthy lifestyles throughout the San Antonio community.

You can read how she created the app, then how she launched it.

Today Isabella is a sophomore business major at UT Austin who wants to focus on marketing or management information systems.

In her time in college so far, Isabella has enjoyed and engaged in her classes.

“I’ve been able to talk to different professors about different career plans and they’ve all been so supportive of me,” she said.

Isabella: Improving the ‘My Fun Food’ App

As a busy college student, Isabella hasn’t made any major changes to the app.

“It has been a little slow because I’m focusing on my classes right now, but having the app in college has helped me [as a resource and a resume-booster],” she said.

Scrolling through the My Fun Food app.

Isabella is still improving the app, though, thanks to her internships.

She will serve as an intern for The Health Cell and recently participated in another internship through Powerhouse Bakery.

This helped her incorporate into the app more healthy recipes geared toward helping cancer patients.

“[Powerhouse Bakery] do such a huge impact on the community in regards to cancer patients and as well as the overall healthcare of San Antoino,” Isabella said.

Isabella even uses My Fun Food to cook healthy food for herself.

“[The app has] been extremely beneficial for me cause right now I’m currently living in an apartment, and I don’t have a meal plan,” Isabella said. “I’m very independent in regards to cooking by myself. But having that kind of little like tool in the back of your pocket, it’s nice to like, OK, instead of having the same meal every day, I’m able to like look at my phone and be like, OK, which recipe do I want to hit next?”

Isabella: More Goals Ahead

Despite her many entrepreneurial accomplishments so far, Isabella still has many goals for My Fun Food app and her college journey.

“I hopefully want to infiltrate [the app] to more UT students as well, I feel like it’s a huge resource for them,” Isabella said.

Isabella also wants to promote the app for more families and local school districts in San Antonio and Austin.

“I wanted to hit every demographic in San Antonio so that you know, when you’re going to the store and you see an ingredient that’s a little bit overpriced you’re able to go to, instead your local market, and find the same thing for a cheaper price,” she said.

Isabella remains focused on the business side of the health and medical fields.

“I grew up with amazing opportunities and I want to be able to give back some of those opportunities to people,” she said.

The app still is free to download in the Apple Store. People can also submit recipes for the app at [email protected].

“All the recipes are easy cost-efficient and fast and quick and easy to make,” Isabella said.

Read about Other Salud Heroes of Health Equity

Along with Isabella, other Salud Heroes are working to promote healthy living and create health equity, where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be their healthiest.

Heroes like Eloísa Trinidad, who started a vegan community fridge in New York.

“Our goal is to provide education for our community members on how to eat plant-based and for their health and food justice from various angles,” Trinidad said.

Explore more Salud Hero stories here.

Or become a Salud Hero yourself by learning what health equity issues need attention.

Start by downloading a Salud America! Health Equity Report Card. This will help you explore factors such as healthy food and federal food aid in your area. See how your community compares to other counties and states across the nation.

Email your Health Equity Report Card to community leaders, share it on social media, and use it to make the case to address food and nutrition insecurity!

GET YOUR HEALTH EQUITY REPORT CARD!

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