Kiera Wright-Ruiz has an impressive resume: food writer with creds in The New York Times and Bon Appétit. Photographer for big-name brands including Taco Bell. Recipe developer for the Japan Times, The Kitchn and Food52. Picture book author.

We could go on.

But perhaps most impressive is the vulnerability Kiera displays in her latest work, My (Half) Latinx Kitchen. Part cookbook, part memoir, the book explores her multicultural roots through a lens of food. Between mouthwatering recipes, photos and illustrations are personal essays about her mixed heritage (her father is Ecuadorian, and her mother is Korean), father’s drug addiction, time in foster care and other personal subjects not usually found in a recipe book. The result is a work that will feed both your body and soul.

Dalia chatted with Kiera, who grew up in South Florida and now lives in Tokyo.

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