Maria del Carmen Flores was the oldest of 12 children and was born and raised in El Salvador where she started selling tostadas, pupusas, fresh fruit with chili and salt alongside her mother when she was six years old. Over the next 30 years, she lived all over Central America, mastering the local cuisine in El Salvador, Guatemala and Oaxaca, Mexico and selling snacks on the street to make a living.
Estrellita's Snacks is a Salvadoran food company specializing in Pupusas, Tamales, and Tostadas. The company was born in San Francisco's Mission District, where Maria del Carmen began selling her freshly fried plantain and yucca chips to local business owners and families that missed the taste and crunch of tostadas from El Salvador.
Maria has been producing her food in the La Cocina kitchen since 2005, with the help of her children and her children's children. The company name is derived from Estrella, which means star in Spanish and is also the name of her daughter and granddaughter.