Dora Ramírez is a Mexican chef, cookbook author, and photographer who specializes in plant-based/vegan Mexican cuisine. Her cookbook, Comida Casera: More Than 100 Vegan Recipes, from Traditional to Modern Mexican Dishes, won the 2026 James Beard Foundation Award.

Ramírez was born and raised in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.^[1][2] Her family owned and operated the "Los Tacos Grill" restaurant, and she grew up eating all of her meals and working there after school.^[1] Her time in the restaurant did not spark an interest in cooking, however.^[1][3] Instead, after graduating from high school, she spent a year in Mexico City on a "spiritual quest", as a missionary.^[1] It was there that she developed an interest in cooking while working with nuns in the kitchen.^[3][2]

She then left the mission and joined The Culinary Institute of America (New York), graduating in 2006.^[1][3]

After graduation, Ramírez worked in hotel restaurants.^[4][1] She quit working after the birth of her first child,^[1] and thought her professional career was over.^[4] After seven years as a stay-at-home mother, she started a recipe blog, which led to work as a cooking teacher and personal chef.^[4] Eventually she turned to a vegan/plant-based diet after health issues led her to watch the 2011 documentary Forks Over Knives.^[4][1] When her mother also began to experience chronic health problems, Ramírez tried to convince her to switch to a plant-based diet. In order to do so, she started to reinvent family dishes in response to her mother's question: "Can’t you make this more Mexican?"^{[1][3] [2]} She then "rebranded" her recipe blog to "vegan Mexican," and started to work with "an organization looking for a vegan bilingual food photographer and recipe developer."^[4]

• Comida Casera: More Than 100 Vegan Recipes, from Traditional to Modern Mexican Dishes. Balance, 2025. ISBN 978-0306832819.

• Official website