Mochi Mommy

Kristen Morita, Founder

Seattle, WA

2024

Mochi Mommy is celebrating the joys of Asian-American comfort food

On Mochi Mommy, Chinese-Japanese Asian-American blogger Kristen Morita is taking the comfort food recipes from her childhood and bringing them to the masses.

Celebrating Asian-American comfort food

As a fourth-generation Asian-American, Kristen Morita grew up eating comfort foods unique to her Japanese and Chinese heritage. From chi chi dango to butter mochi, these were distinctly Asian-American recipes from a small subset of people who’ve been in the United States for a while but still have a deep connection to Asian flavors.

“These were foods that I knew people in my community ate regularly, but you couldn’t really find them in any official cookbooks or on websites,” says Kristen. “So I would call my parents and grandparents, trying to cook these foods that were so important during my childhood.”

When Kristen had children of her own, passing down these culinary traditions became all the more urgent. So in 2019, Kristen decided to take matters into her own hands and recreate these recipes online as best she could. And with that, Mochi Mommy was born.

“At the time, it was just a side project,” explains Kristen. “I was working full-time as a speech therapist and figured this might just be a fun thing to do on the side.”

Playing around with her new blog one day, Kristen noticed that she could easily run ads on her site with Google AdSense. Not thinking much of it, Kristen ran a few campaigns, figuring she would earn a couple extra dollars here and there to supplement her speech therapist salary.

But this simple decision to try out AdSense would prove fateful — as it was only a matter of time before Kristen would make enough revenue to devote herself full-time to Mochi Mommy.

Reaching the community

After managing her blog for a couple years, Kristen began to hear from readers just like her — Asian-Americans who had been eating these same foods since childhood, but hadn’t ever been able to find actual recipes online.

“People would tell me that their family also eats, say, almond jell-o, but maybe they tweak things here or there,” says Kristen. “These conversations were such a great way to reconnect with the community and learn from each other. And it hasn’t hurt that in recent years many traditional Asian flavors like Ube and Matcha have gone so mainstream.”

Much like her heritage, Kristen’s audience is a mix. There are Asian-American readers eager to discover their families’ recipes online. And then there are readers outside of the Asian-American community who keep up with the latest food trends and go to Kristen’s blog to learn more.

With her readership growing, Kristen heard from Raptive, a Google Certified Publishing Partner, who offered her the opportunity to join their exclusive ad network with higher RPMs.

“Once I joined Raptive, my income from ads tripled,” says Kristen. “The team there have been invaluable, irreplaceable partners, and I appreciate how they always keep me in the loop on any updates happening with Google.”

Best of all, building such a partnership with Google and Raptive has helped Kristen keep her content entirely free.

“I know that many other content creators put their work behind paywalls, but I just didn’t feel comfortable marketing my work that way and urging people to pay for it,” says Kristen. “I really believe that these recipes should be free and that the ads are a great business model because I get to write what I want, readers don’t have to pay for it, and the ads don’t affect the reading experience. I don’t see much downside to it.”

Kristen also appreciates that the ad revenue has also allowed her to take on fewer social media sponsorships.

“I don't love doing sponsored content, frankly,” says Kristen. “So now I get to be really choosy and picky, and only work with brands that I feel an authentic connection with. I don’t feel this pressure to just take any opportunity that comes my way.”

With her ad model working effectively, Kristen was ready to take her next big step: quitting her speech therapy job and devoting herself full-time to Mochi Mommy.

“I really believe that these recipes should be free and that the ads are a great business model because I get to write what I want, readers don’t have to pay for it, and the ads don’t affect the reading experience.”

A passion becomes a business

Originally Kristen had never intended to make the blog her primary business. She chose to run ads because it was very easy to set up, provided some nice extra income, and didn't require anything of her readers. But soon enough, the ad revenue was too good to deny.

“In 2024, my blogging revenue overtook my day job salary, so I quit to become a full time blogger,” says Kristen. “Now I have the flexibility to work from home on my own schedule, which is especially helpful as the mother of two young children. I have much more time to spend with them and deal with things around the home.”

Plus, ads are a form of passive income — Kristen doesn’t have to be constantly monitoring her site. “I can work dedicated times on it and then on other times I can go live my life,” she says. “So work doesn't necessarily follow me around as much as some other jobs might.”

Kristen also loves that the blog has given her a way to share these recipes with her children, seeing them form the same connection to their identity that she did as a child.

“I know first-hand how many Asian-Americans struggle with their identity,” says Kristen. “You ask yourself, 'who am I?' You might go back and visit your family’s home countries and feel like you don’t quite fit in there — that you don't dress like them, don't eat like them, don't talk like them. So it’s really important to step back and say, actually, it's okay that we're different.”

Kristen sees Mochi Mommy as a celebration of this unique balance that third-culture kids deal with — where you’re taking a bit from your family’s traditional culture, as well as a bit from the American culture that you’ve been exposed to your whole life.

“We're not trying to be one thing or another — this is just who we are,” says Kristen. “And so it was important for me to celebrate this identity. Because it’s not about knowing the language perfectly or knowing everything about how people cooked in China or Japan centuries ago. It’s about celebrating how we cook now — and it’s a great tradition that people still love.”

About the Publisher

Kristen Morita is the Asian-American daughter of two working parents who did not have time to cook. As a child, she looked forward to eating home cooked Asian food at her grandparents’ houses - Japanese cuisine on her dad’s side and Chinese on her mom’s. Kristen started the blog Mochi Mommy in 2019 as a way to record her grandparents' recipes and pass them down to the next generation. She lives in the Seattle area with her husband and two daughters. Outside of food blogging, you’re likely to find Kristen with her nose in a book or taking classes at her local ballet studio.