About Todo Tumi

"Con sazon." With flavor. With heart. With everything.

My name is Erika. I'm a Peruvian woman, a chef, a maker, a mother, and the founder of Todo Tumi.

I come from a family whose roots run deep into Andean soil. My grandfather was José Condorhuamán Maita — a name that carries the condor and the falcon, two of the most sacred animals in Inca cosmology. My heritage is indigenous, Spanish, Italian, and perhaps Asian too — like Peru itself, a beautiful mix of everything the world has to offer. That diversity is why Peruvian food is so extraordinary. We have a little of everything, and we make it our own.

I came to the United States in 2009, following love and a little bit of destiny. My school changed from Boston to San Francisco, and I thought — maybe that's where I'm supposed to be. I married Pablo in February 2010. His family was opening a Peruvian restaurant in Santa Rosa, California. I had no official role, no title. But I had something they didn't — sazon. That untranslatable Peruvian word for the flavor that comes not just from ingredients, but from knowing, from feeling, from love.

I helped them because I believed in the food — and because I thought: next year, I'll open my own. I studied economics and business. I always knew I would build something of my own. So I cooked without a contract, without protection. Seven days a week. Up to 14 hours a day. My visa was expiring. Fixing my immigration status took money and time we didn't have. I gave everything to build something that was never legally mine.

I created the menu. I made the ceviche the way it should be made — fresh halibut or tilapia, sea salt, cilantro, red onions, a spoon of rocoto, and the juice of two or three limes, served with sweet potato, corn, and cancha. I ran the hot station — lomo saltado, chupe, anticuchos, causa, ají de gallina, picante de mariscos. I cooked for the Michelin inspector without even knowing he was there. I just cooked the way I always cook — with everything I had.

Sazon Peruvian Cuisine received a Michelin Bib Gourmand award. The press called the food extraordinary. The lines went around the block.

My name was never mentioned.

When the family fought and the restaurant fell apart, Pablo and I were left with nothing. No home. No money. No credit for what we built. Pablo is not someone who fights for money — and his family knew that. They kept everything. The recipes. The recognition. The keys.

But I kept going.

I worked in the wineries and fields. I raised my two children. I climbed. I became an Amazon operations manager — L1 to L4 in less than two years, managing teams, working 70-hour weeks. I was good at it. But it was costing me everything that mattered.

So I stepped away. And I came back to what I've always known.

Back in Peru, as a university student in Cusco, I was already making things — chocotejas, bombones de chocolate con lúcuma, and alfajores — and my sister sold them at school for me. I was always too shy to sell myself. I made soaps, candles, chocolates, crafts. I have always been a maker. After leaving Amazon, I saved little by little — for a printer, a cutting machine. I taught myself how to make stickers and bookmarks. I turned my love of photography into art. I let my curiosity about food, travel, music, and culture from around the world pour into everything I create.

Todo Tumi means everything for you. And tumi — the sacred Inca ceremonial knife — is a symbol of heritage, of craft, of something made with intention and passed down through generations. That is exactly what this is.

A world where Peruvian culture, food, art, and joy travel from my home to yours. Through stationery and postcards. Through recipe cards and stickers. Through Peruvian candies and handcrafted goods. Through a little cuy in a chullo hat — inspired by two plushies that traveled from my mom, to my mother-in-law, to me. They were always meant to find their way home.

This is my story of winning, suffering, and losing — and building anyway.

This is my sazon. This time, it has my name on it.

Con cariño y sazon,
Erika 🐾❤️🇵🇪