Photo of Kristina Billan

My name is Kristina Billan. I live in Brooklyn, NY with my husband and I am the Founder and Head Blogger of Savory Suitcase.

I am a crusader with a ridiculous case of “travel-itis,” a disease that took me from Vancouver, Canada where I was born to Calimete, Cuba where I assisted in the recovery of a village from a devastating hurricane to London, England where I joined professional lobbyists in Parliament to advocate for healthcare rights. In the past 10 years, I have created numerous professional excuses to travel to 47 cities in 22 countries across 5 continents (with more travel plans in the works). What excites me most about discovering a new city? The FOOD.

With this realization, I embarked on a journey to create a space for my fellow international foodies and adventurous home chefs to discover the world of food through this blog.

I am conquering this planet, one city at a time, invading home kitchens, devouring local ingredients, cooking with acclaimed chefs, learning the best-kept secrets to their cuisine, and bringing them here to you. Through recipes, inspirational memoirs, relevant articles, revealing interviews, and much more, we will expose the unexposed.

I will seek to undermine common misconceptions in the culinary world. One such misconception rings as follows: “if Jane Doe is not from [Country X], she cannot make [Country X] food.” In my experience, this is a fallacious claim. I will help you nail the techniques employed by the local masters. We will undermine this claim together!

Reader engagement is a cornerstone at Savory Suitcase. If there are spices, fruits, or vegetables that you are interested in learning how to work with, tell us. If you have a suggested topic or city whose cuisine interests you, tell us. If you just want to say hi or comment on a blog post, we always want to hear from you. Email us anytime at contactus@savorysuitcase.com.

Finally, as citizens of the world my fellow international foodies, it is important that we employ “green eating” strategies where possible. I will include sections for each recipe such as “Love your Leftovers” and “Purge your Fridge” to ditch the waste for more taste.

Tune in and keep cooking.

Author picture

Hello, I’m Kristina, Founder and Head Blogger of Savory Suitcase… the one-stop-shop for the international foodie.

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