My family moved around in Florida, and I struggled to make friends. I eventually built a community around cooking paella.

My family moved around in Florida, and I struggled to make friends. I eventually built a community around cooking paella.

The author made friends when he learned to cook paella.Courtesy of John Paul HernandezMy family travels to Spain often and learned about the tradition of cooking paella.Bringing that tradition home to Florida helped us build friendships and connect with neighbors.Sharing a meaningful tradition helped us overcome loneliness and make new friends.After my wife and I married in 2017, life moved fast. We found a place to put down roots and started a …