SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Book Festival returns this Saturday, bringing together more than 100 authors, including Arnie Segovia.
Segovia, better known online as ArnieTex, has built a massive following by sharing Texas-style barbecue and Mexican American recipes across platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Now, he’s adding “New York Times best-selling author” to his resume.
Segovia’s new cookbook, “ArnieTex: Over 100 Recipes for Mexican-American Cooking and Texas-Style BBQ,” has quickly gained national recognition.
Before becoming a social media personality, Segovia said he spent more than two decades in the competitive barbecue circuit. His digital journey began as a way to promote his spice blends, but it quickly evolved into something much bigger.
“We started to make cooking videos on YouTube to promote our spices,” Segovia said. “People liked our recipes and it just took off.”
ArnieTex and his team continued making reels and videos, and YouTube promoted a video featuring Segovia and his mother.
“In a couple of years’ time, you know, we had a little over 50,000 followers on YouTube,” said ArnieTex. “But after that video, when they promoted it, I mean, we shot up from 50,000 to about 115,000 within a month. And then after that, it was just like this giant snowball, and it just kept rolling.”
Although Segovia had long considered writing a cookbook, it was his audience that pushed the idea forward.
“People were asking for it in the comments,” he said. “They’re saying, ‘You should write a cookbook.’”
The opportunity became reality when DK Publishing reached out with an offer to collaborate.
“‘We think you have great recipes. We’d like to help you write a cookbook,’” Segovia recalled. “It was like serendipity.”
ArnieTex and his team spent 14 months refining recipes, translating his instinctive cooking style into clear, step-by-step instructions.
“I cook like grandma and mom — just a pinch of this, a dash of that,” he said. “That’s the way I’ve cooked my whole life, you know, you taste and you adjust.”
But for the cookbook, that approach had to be carefully measured to ensure the recipes were easy to follow, so readers could recreate the dishes at home.
Segovia will be among the featured authors at Saturday’s festival, where attendees can meet writers and attend panels. There will also be activities for kids.
The San Antonio Book Festival runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
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