Adriana Velez

Growing up outside Denver, Colorado Adriana would eavesdrop on the Mexican cooking classes her mother taught to the neighbors in the family kitchen. But it wasn't until years later, when she moved to New York City for grad school, that she fell in love with food—hard. Her grad student budget forced her to learn how to replicate the rare restaurant meals at home in her own kitchen.

Trained as a writer, eating and cooking have always gone hand-in-hand with obsessive journaling for Adriana. She started off as a food blogger, a restaurant reviewer for The Brooklyn Rail, and co-founder of a grassroots food justice organization. Over the years she's steadily built her career doing just about every kind of food writing there is.

Most recently she's worked as Food Editor at She Knows and Senior Editor of Food and Drink at Thrillist (where she and her team were nominated for a James Beard award). Her writing has been featured in Serious Eats, Healthyish/Bon Appetit, Martha Stewart, and The Washington Post.

Approximately a thousand years ago, before coming to New York for graduate school, Adriana studied English at Brigham Young University.

5 Questions With Adriana

What food or drink are you?

I'm cajeta: sweet but not too sweet, a bit salty, a little bit funky, a lot messy.

What food trend would you like to forget?

The trend of hating on food trends. Come on, let people have their fun.

What's the first legit recipe you cooked?

My dad's blender salsa crudo.

Family fun fact?

Before we met, my husband lived on an all-starch diet and refused to eat anything that had to be cut with a knife. Let me tell you, it's been a journey.

What's your favorite kitchen object?

The knives. The knives. The sharp, steely kniiiiiiiiiives!