Karla Salinas, owner-and-chef of Karla’s Kitchen & Catering in Flourtown, sought to present her clientele with some of the same traditional dishes made by her mother, who is still living — and cooking — in Peru. Vittoria Woodill, CBS News Philadelphia, reported a gentle but effective response from Salinas’ madre.

Salinas opened her ethnic restaurant in 2016. But it didn’t quite catch with locals.

“I was doing authentic Peruvian,” she explained. “And people didn’t like it too much. So, I remember being frustrated, like What am I doing here? I didn’t go to [culinary] school. We are immigrants.

“But I love to cook,” Sainas said.

As many daughters do in times of stress, she turned to the family matriarch for advice.

“My mother said to me, ‘You’re not cooking for Peruvians; you’re cooking for Americans,’” Salinas said. “’Cook their food, but with your flavor.’”

The advice became a recipe for success.

“The community is the best,” Salinas gushed. “They’ve become part of my life and I become part of their life, too.”

More on how a piece of maternal advice turned around Karla’s Kitchen & Catering is at CBS News Philadelphia.