Maya Bloom has been in the business of cooking for 10 years. She studied at Le Cordon Bleu London and worked in several restaurants in Israel and abroad. Before the coronavirus pandemic, she owned a small business offering concept dinners, combining a-la-carte cooking with arts and music. But the coronavirus-induced crisis put an end to all that. At once, there were no more reservations, and Bloom found herself without any revenues and unemployed.

"When this happened I started looking for comfort. And for me that meant comfort food. I researched the market and found that only few places offer real Southern American food. I grew up in the United States and traveled all over the place. Macaroni and cheese is actually my earliest childhood memory. So I connected these two dots and created Yo Mama. Excellent takeaway Southern American food that I cook in my own kitchen," Bloom told Al-Monitor.

Bloom said that launching a new cooking business in times of a pandemic is certainly a challenge. "When you cook at home, you have no one cleaning the dishes. No suppliers at hand. I do everything by myself, so it is a lot of stress, especially since I am determined to keep high standards as if I manage a restaurant. The pandemic changed many things for restaurants. Ghost kitchens are the future, so we might as well get used to that immediately," she added.

Indeed, reactions on social media are enthusiastic, and Bloom is busy all day long cooking, packaging and delivering. Yo Mama has already made quite a name for itself. Her You So Corny corn-bread with sour cream, for instance, or her Mac & Shmack hefty macaroni and cheese with cheddar have become many customers’ favorites.