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.