Guillermo Alfonso on the Real Miami: Culture, Food and What Comes Next

Miami is often presented to the outside world through beaches, luxury, nightlife and high-end restaurants. Guillermo Alfonso sees a much broader city.

In an interview with Miami Context, the filmmaker and creative behind La Jama TV described Miami as a place defined above all by its culture — a combination of food, lifestyle, language and communities that, in his view, rarely gets represented in full.

“The real Miami the media doesn’t really tell you about is the culture,” Alfonso said.

For him, the version of Miami that reaches audiences outside South Florida can sometimes feel simplified.

“They give you this washed-up version of Miami when in fact it’s much more diverse than that,” he said. “Living in Miami makes you culturally aware and in turn I believe makes you grow as a human.”

Alfonso argues that Miami’s influence is already global. Its food, lifestyle and slang are recognizable far beyond South Florida, even if the everyday reality of the city remains less familiar to outsiders.

“Our food, our lifestyle, and our slang is viewed globally, but only a few really know what it’s like down here in the Magic City,” he said.

Croqueta Nation: a story that felt unmistakably Miami

One project that captured that identity was Croqueta Nation.

Alfonso said the idea immediately appealed to him because of how uniquely Miami it felt: a restaurant attempting to break the world record for the longest croqueta.

“The fact that a restaurant was really trying to break the world record for the longest croqueta was so Miami that there was no way I wasn’t going to tell the story,” he said.

But the project also taught him something about filmmaking.

Rather than forcing a predetermined narrative, Alfonso said he learned to let events develop naturally.

“I learned along the way to be fluid with the story because sometimes we need to let things happen instead of trying to predetermine the outcome,” he said.

At the time, Alfonso said he was not even certain whether the record attempt would work.

“I wasn’t even sure if we could beat the record, but it all worked out,” he said.

He also credited the people and organizations involved in bringing the short documentary together, including Only in Dade, Emilio Estefan, Sergio’s, local foodies and Marcello Hernandez.

La Jama TV and the other side of Miami food

That same interest in local culture is at the center of La Jama TV.

Alfonso said the goal is to capture what he considers the essence of Miami food — especially beyond the city’s better-known luxury dining scene.

“There’s a lot of really great high-end restaurants in Miami, especially since Miami is such a big money city, but there’s this other side across the bridge where the real locals eat,” he said.

That distinction is important to the type of stories La Jama TV wants to tell.

For Alfonso, Miami food culture is constantly evolving because of chefs who grew up in the city and are willing to experiment.

“There’s so many passionate chefs, born and raised in Miami, who have diversified the food culture by not being scared to try new things,” he said.

More chef stories, partnerships and TikTok

Alfonso also outlined some of the next steps for La Jama TV.

He wants to expand the brand through more partnerships while continuing to tell stories centered on Miami chefs.

“I think logically the next step for us is to do more brand partnerships and telling more amazing Chef stories,” he said.

He also sees opportunities on TikTok, including live content, affiliate sales involving kitchen products and the introduction of new food items.

Eventually, Alfonso wants to take La Jama TV beyond Miami.

“I also wanna eventually take La Jama on the road,” he said.

GROWHIBITION and the projects ahead

Food is only one part of Alfonso’s creative plans.

He described himself as someone constantly developing new ideas and said he has several projects he hopes to finish over the next 12 months.

Among them is GROWHIBITION, a documentary project centered on cannabis growers.

According to Alfonso, the idea is to tell the story of cannabis through the perspective of leading growers from around the world.

He said he has spent years traveling and filming people involved in the industry.

“I’ve had the privilege of filming some really amazing people, and some of those people are the top cannabis growers in the world,” Alfonso said.

“We’ve traveled all over the globe with them and filming them for years, so naturally I wanna put together this documentary series about the best growers in the world.”

For Alfonso, the project is one of several ideas currently in development.

“I tend to have a lot of ideas and cool things that I wanna create,” he said. “I’m just a creative monster and I’m constantly thinking of new things to create and film.”

Telling Miami from the inside

Across Croqueta Nation, La Jama TV and the projects Alfonso is planning next, the common thread is a focus on people and stories that exist beyond the most familiar version of Miami.

His view of the city is less about selling an image and more about documenting the culture already happening around him.

And for Alfonso, that culture — from neighborhood food to slang, chefs and local characters — is what defines the Miami worth showing to the rest of the world.