FEATURES
35
RAW
April
Kala's Kitchen
Welcome
to
How long have you been cooking?
"Since I was a little girl, I loved watching my mom and my grandmother playing around with different ingredients in the kitchen. However, I did not develop a profound interest until three years ago, when I came to live in the United States. With all the variety of ingredients and types of food it's almost impossible to restrain myself in the kitchen when I cook [laughs]."
You said you recently moved to the U.S. Where are you from?
"I was born in Venezuela and I had the pleasure of living there for the majority of my life. The main reason I came here was to give my kids the best opportunity to a better future, since the situation in our country has been in a bad state for a really long time. I miss it a lot but I'm extremely grateful that I can see my children always happy. That's the main reason I started cooking, because it is my main outlet those days that I'm feeling pretty nostalgic [laughs]."
Why do you choose to cook with organic ingredients instead of the regular products?
"To be honest, there's no better feeling than knowing exactly what you are putting inside your body. Whenever I look into the labels of processed foods, there are times that they have ingredients that I can't even get close to pronounce. Not only the weird names, but also, if you look at the amount of sugars and trans fat, the numbers are outstandingly high, and I really don't want to give my body products that in the long run are going to catch up with my health. I always try to keep it organic and real."
What are some products that you always have in yout kitchen pantry?
"That's such a hard question! But definitely honey, stevia, chia seeds, and fresh fruit."
Is it hard to order in a restaurant whenever you are trying to keep a healthy diet?
"Not at all! I love going out to restaurants. What I do is always choose the items that seem more natural to me, like salads or whole grain pasta. It's all about your choice and what you have appetite for. If it's salad I order the dressing on the side, since they usually have a lot of calories."
How has your Instagram success enhanced your cooking passion?
"It has really encouraged me to keep learning and improving my dishes because I can't show people the same dishes every week. The other day I took a Thai cooking class and I've been playing with those ingredients lately, they are amazing!"
What is one secret you would give the readers?
"Cooking is not only about putting ingredients in the oven. You need to love what you're doing from the point you pull the contents from the refrigerator to the part you serve your creation with your guests. Arranging the ingredients before including them in the mixture makes the dish taste even better than you imagined. It's all about passion and love, that's extremely
essential."