Von Diaz’s goal when she speaks with her audience is to leave them wanting more. That’s exactly how we ended this conversation with her at East Carolina University—hungry not only for food, but to read all her books and immerse ourselves in the rich, vibrant world of Caribbean cuisine. An Emmy Award winner and recipient of numerous honors, her books Coconuts & Collards: Recipes and Stories from Puerto Rico to the Deep South (University Press of Florida, 2018) and Islas: A Celebration of Tropical Cooking (Chronicle Books, 2024) show us that food is a way to recover memory and culture, but also to discover the parallels that connect us as a global community. She identifies as a documentarian, food historian, and Puerto Rican author—born in Puerto Rico and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.