The Familia Kitchen Mission

¡Hola! Meet Our Team

Familia Kitchen was founded in Chicago by Latinas hungry for home.

Kim Caviness grew up in Santurce, Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican mom and American dad, and loves cooking for family and friends. Kim’s favorites: arroz con pollo, maduros, garlicky tostones, her mom’s flan, her sister’s coquito, and her cousin Anjie’s pozole verde, avocado serrano salsa and homemade tortillas. She learned to cook from her mom and “El Libro,” Cocina Criolla, the Boricua cooking bible. She is the editor of the Familia Kitchen Cookbook. Kim brings 20+ years content experience, including as chief content officer of three U.S. content marketing agencies, working for Condé Nast Traveler and WebMD to her role as Familia Kitchen Co-Founder, CEO & Editor in Chief.

Lisa Hunt Stevens grew up in San Diego and is a world traveler who has been to more than 18 Central and South American countries and Caribbean islands. She knows her way around a taco de pollo asado (please pile hers high with queso, guac and cilantro), green enchiladas and chilaquiles. Lisa brings 20+ years in advertising, sales and partnerships including Kraft Heinz My Food and Family, O, The Oprah Magazine, Food Network Magazine, and Bon Appétit to her role as Familia Kitchen Co-Founder, Chief Business Officer.

Brittany Abdool, founder of Ona Media Company, Marketing & Communications Agency, is central to our team’s braintrust, guiding us as our fearless fractional Familia Kitchen CMO. Brittany and her family are happiest exploring the comida corners of Chicago and one of their favorite neighborhoods is beautiful Pilsen, a historically Mexican community and home to some of the city’s best tacos and carnitas.

Melissa Paniagua Tempest, a mom and wife who lives in Virginia, oversees Familia Kitchen’s social media strategy and runs our Instagram and Facebook channels. Her family is from Nicaragua, which means that plantains have been a staple on the dining table all her life. Especially yellow platanos with brown sugar and butter, a family recipe she will pass on to her young daughters. Melissa is Familia Kitchen Digital Strategist.

Emily González is a proud Cuban/Mexican American who lives in the vibrant city of Chicago. ”My father’s journey began in Mexico, and at the young age of 6, he embarked on a life-changing move to the United States. My mother’s family relocated from Cuba to the U.S. when she was just 6 months old. When it comes to Mexican cuisine, tamales hold a special place in my heart. When it comes to Cuban food, my top dish is rabo encendido. It’s truly heartwarming how we collectively savor these family recipes, reflecting on the enduring value of our family and the precious memories we carry with us.” Emily is Familia Kitchen Social Media Engagement and Events Manager.

Isabelle Banin is a writer who enjoys reporting on comida latina for Familia Kitchen. A native New Yorker, Isabelle knows her way around great food and loves to write about what she eats and cooks. Isabelle’s favorite recipes include arroz con pollo, any kind of flan, empanadas (especially with beef), and tamales. She also loves all the variations of salsas and pico de gallo sent in by Familia Kitchen homecooks, especially if they are spicy. Isabelle is Familia Kitchen Assistant Editor.

The 20 Latino Places We Cook Our Way Home to

Familia Kitchen’s Recipe Contests

Each month we’ll post a contest for one traditional dish. Everyone with Latino roots in the United States and a go-to family recipe is invited to enter.

Contest details: Once you submit your family’s recipe and family food story for a contest, Familia Kitchen’s editors will go through all the entries and hand-select the most intriguing top 3.

What does intriguing mean? Good question. It’s a combo of:
• most delicioso
• most traditional and authentic
• most essential list of ingredients and techniques
• most interesting
• most cookable—it demands to be made!

FK editors will then cook and photograph the top trio of recipes and post them as that month’s contest Familia Kitchen Contest 3 Finalists.

This Is Where You Come In

Everyone in the Familia Kitchen community is invited and welcome to vote for your favorite recipe in each contest. The recipe that receives the most user votes becomes that month’s Familia Kitchen contest winner.

We’ll hold recipe contests 12 times a year—one per month, supplemented with articles and/or videos about each dish’s history, lore, techniques and/or ingredients. We celebrate the first 12 winning recipes with profiles and family-food stories of the cooks who submitted them in our Familia Kitchen Cookbook, plus other content platforms.

The Familia Kitchen Cooking Our Way Home Grand Prize

At the end of each calendar year, the 3 recipe contest finalists who receive the most votes will be entered to win that year’s The Familia Kitchen Cooking Our Way Home Grand Prize. You and everyone in our Familia Kitchen community will be invited to vote for the year’s número 1 contest recipe. The winner is awarded a prize trip to their Latino homeland. The Grand Prize includes: flight + 2 nights’ hotel + 1 delicioso meal at a great local restaurant there.

Abuela Cooking with Amor & Sabor

Every recipe and food story shared by our community of homecooks and published here at Familia Kitchen celebrates our deep respeto for abuela cooking. These are the loved Latino dishes passed down generación to generación, simplified and perfected over time to become family-famous favorites.

Familia Kitchen is advised by our Council of Abuelas on Latino culinary traditions and best practices. Our abuelas review recetas and advise us as we cook and write about each of our 20 Latino destinations, making sure that we only share dishes, preparations and ingredients that are authentic, trusted and delicioso.

¿Listos? Join Us at Familia Kitchen

Están invitados to join the Familia Kitchen community in our ambitious and exciting mission: to collect, curate and celebrate our traditional culinary heritage by creating the most complete and authentic online treasury of U.S. Latino family recipes and food stories.

Here’s how:
• Help us collect your favorite family recipes and food stories.
• Sign up for our Familia Kitchen Newsletter.
• Email us with ideas for a recipe contest starring your Latino homeland’s signature dishes.

Let’s inspire the next generation to learn how to cook our favorite time-honored Latino recipes—and pass them on to their grandchildren.

Together, we’ll honor and preserve nuestra cocina Latina and abuela-cooking traditions. Gracias for su apoyo, comunidad Familia Kitchen!

See you in the kitchen.