Who is Natalie Love Cruz?

Hey there! I’m Natalie Love Cruz and I’m an Afro-Latina culinary professional and writer. I specialize in culinary instruction and decolonized food systems. I’m currently writing a cookbook on the African Diaspora in Latin America.

I’ve been a speaker at NYU and the Culinary Institute of America’s Just Food conference, Black Urban Gardeners and Farmers national conference, and at the BlogHer Food conference. I’m the Leadership Co-Chair of the North American Food Systems Network, which is a professional development association for people working together to strengthen local and regional food systems (yay food systems!).

My newsletter has been featured several times as a Featured Publication on Substack and I was selected as a Food Fellow for Substack’s Food Intensive Fellowship in 2022. My writing has been featured in Eaten magazine, The Pandemic Post, Remezcla, Mommy Bites, and Black Girl in Om.

What is Food For Thought.?

The weekly newsletter is where I write about food, society, and identity. I also write a series within the newsletter called Eating A-Z in NYC where I eat around the world from A-Z in the five boroughs of New York. Food For Thought. will sometimes be in the form of recipes, podcasts, long-form essays, or just pictures.

Come dive into the archive!

Why Subscribe?

Your subscription supports a very hungry nerdy writer who loves to talk about food in an unpretentious way (get outta town food snobs!). Come for the food + stay for the good feels with a pinch of snark 😉.

Paid subscriptions will include:

  • Every Eating A-Z in NYC newsletter [Every single cuisine + restaurant!]

  • New updates on my cookbook [Things are coming together!]

  • Think pieces on our social food landscape

  • More recipes [I cook A LOT + have so many to share!]

  • Exclusive giveaways [Monthly giveaways of food goodies!]

  • Meet + Eat [If you live in NYC let’s all Meet + Eat! A fun way to meet new folks and eat good food]

  • My Burnt Podcast [A lil’ podcast where food folks + the like discuss their epic failures + mishaps in the kitchen. Let’s normalize non-perfection in the kitchen!]

If you are based in NYC feel free to reach out for a cup of coffee. I’d love to chat sometime!

Cook. Eat. Repeat.

Natalie 💗✨

Subscribe to Food For Thought.

Food. Thoughts. Mostly Warm Feelings From NYC.

People

Musings of an Afro-Latina Food Nerd