Food is an unmistakable facet of Los Angeles life. Around every corner, there is a different global cuisine to choose from.

For junior Lucy Williams, food is an essential aspect of her life. Williams is the founder of Little Savvy, a cooking content presence on Instagram and TikTok in which Williams shares different recipes and cooking tips.

The Oracle sat down with Williams to discuss her love for food and how she has developed Little Savvy.

Where did your interest in food stem from?

Lucy Williams [LW]: Growing up, we were a very food-forward family, so we always went out to restaurants for the two years that I was an only child. My parents said that I was so well-behaved at those restaurants, and I think it’s because I have been in love with food since I was little. It’s a love for culture and for the art form of food. I consider myself kind of artistic, in certain forms, and food is so interesting to learn about. All the different chefs and all the different restaurants had all these different ways that they cooked, and I got to meet them all when I was younger. I think it’s because I’m Puerto Rican and native Hawaiian that I really appreciate cultural foods. Food is an art form, so just exploring that from a really young age was really fun.

How did Little Savvy start?

[LW]: It was an idea that formed in quarantine. I started taking photos of every single meal that I ate, starting probably in late 2020 or early 2021. And then, I think my dad kind of encouraged me to continue to take content and take footage because social media was so important, and that was kind of the way that I convinced my parents to let me get social media. I thought if I turned this into a full-scale business or content creation, I might be able to get TikTok and Instagram. My parents said ‘If you have a project and you’re using it well, then I don’t see a problem.’ So I started posting videos of food, and I took lots of pictures of food and restaurants. Over the years, as I started going on more vacations and reviewing restaurants, they became videos and video series, and it was a really fun way to connect with my community.

What is the purpose behind Little Savvy?

[LW]:  I used to go to a lot of restaurants, and it’s because my mom actually did food reviewing. She was a magazine writer. She did that under the name ‘Savvy’… that was her gig. And so I’m Little Savvy, and I’m continuing that through a new form. I really like to bring my personality and my heritage into it. I have a big family, and we in no way have an aesthetic lifestyle, so I just try to be happy and smiley, and show the way that I live with all the people that I love and the foods that I’ve grown up eating, especially Puerto Rican food and Hawaiian food – my specialties.

What is your favorite food to make/review?

[LW]: Puerto Rican food is the most sentimental to me because I grew up eating it: rice and beans and Grandma’s chicken. I also love Persian food. I think it’s because I live in LA, and we’re just exposed to a lot of Persian food, different Mediterranean food and Israeli food. I just love to explore… I really like Asian food as well. I love to review immigrant restaurants and small businesses because it’s my firm belief that the best food is going to be at those ethnic places. It’s coming straight from the people who learned how to cook it. It’s called grandmother’s cooking, and that’s my favorite.

How do you hope Little Savvy will grow in the future?

[LW]: Right now I’m at a stage where I’ve done a lot of content and worked really hard on it for my community. I think now that school is ending, summer is going to be a huge time for me to really blow up Little Savvy and work smart, not hard. It will also be a time for me to really try and have a better reach –  not for popularity, but more just because I want to reach a larger audience and expand my message. I’m going to be implementing a little bit more service, ideas of how to eat healthier and how to eat farm to table, which is something I’m really interested in.