{"id":240997,"date":"2026-04-08T22:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/240997\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T22:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:11:07","slug":"youtube-star-and-champion-pitmaster-arnietex-to-headline-san-antonio-book-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/240997\/","title":{"rendered":"YouTube star and champion pitmaster ArnieTex to headline San Antonio Book Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The San Antonio Book Festival<\/a> returns this Saturday, bringing together more than 100 authors, including Arnie Segovia.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Now, he\u2019s adding \u201cNew York Times best-selling author\u201d to his resume.<\/p>\n

Segovia\u2019s new cookbook, \u201cArnieTex: Over 100 Recipes for Mexican-American Cooking and Texas-Style BBQ,\u201d has quickly gained national recognition.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started to make cooking videos on YouTube to promote our spices,\u201d Segovia said. \u201cPeople liked our recipes and it just took off.\u201d<\/p>\n

ArnieTex and his team continued making reels and videos, and YouTube promoted a video featuring Segovia and his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a couple of years\u2019 time, you know, we had a little over 50,000 followers on YouTube,\u201d said ArnieTex. \u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Segovia had long considered writing a cookbook, it was his audience that pushed the idea forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were asking for it in the comments,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re saying, \u2018You should write a cookbook.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The opportunity became reality when DK Publishing reached out with an offer to collaborate.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018We think you have great recipes. We\u2019d like to help you write a cookbook,\u2019\u201d Segovia recalled. \u201cIt was like serendipity.\u201d<\/p>\n

ArnieTex and his team spent 14 months refining recipes, translating his instinctive cooking style into clear, step-by-step instructions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cook like grandma and mom \u2014 just a pinch of this, a dash of that,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the way I\u2019ve cooked my whole life, you know, you taste and you adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Segovia will be among the featured authors at Saturday\u2019s festival, where attendees can meet writers and attend panels. There will also be activities for kids.<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Book Festival runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The San Antonio Book Festival returns this Saturday, bringing together more than 100 authors, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[77224,77225,82,75602,84,83],"class_list":["post-240997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-arnie-segovia","tag-arnietex","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-book-festival","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}