Meet the cook

Hi everyone! My name is Kat Cox and I am the owner of Kat’s Kucina. 

My passion for cooking was sparked by two influential aspects of my childhood. The first being my grandmother, the beautiful woman that raised me. As her very first grand child, I coined the name all of her future grandchildren would call her, “Pama.” From a very young age, she started teaching me the basics and including me in her nightly ritual of preparing dinner; to be promptly served at 7pm every night, without fail. Her mountains of cookbooks, hundreds of scattered flashcards containing tasty recipes passed around from family members and friends, and having Food Network constantly playing in the background always peaked my interest. What was this obsession with the kitchen? Was it just her playing a traditional gender role? Or was it something more? It wasn’t until I was a young adult, moving out on my own for the first time that I truly understood the beauty of creating a delicious meal with your own hands, in your own kitchen. My grandmother never cooks because she has to, she cooks because watching her family enjoy the meals her hands created brought her a sense of pride. I see that now in myself. The amount of joy I feel when serving a plate of food that I know is going to be found delicious is unquantifiable; hearing “wow that was so delicious,” after someone finishes a meal I created is something I will never get tired of hearing. 

The second aspect is the absence of my father, and not knowing an entire side of my family tree. Growing up in an untraditional household left me yearning to know about these people I share blood with. I knew two things about my father: he was Italian and he loved motorcycles, and that was it. I’m not a big motorcycle fan but I do love Italian food so I ran with that. I know that food connects people, so with this being the only knowledge of this side of my family, I dove head first in learning Italian cuisine as, in my mind, that was a way to bridge my life with these people I wish I knew. From non stop watching Massimo Buttras and Antonio Cannavacciuolo cook innovative Italian food to indulging in the T.V. series “Two Greedy Italians,” to try and learn more about Italian Foodie Culture I was determined to connect with this side of my life.

I feel as if food has always been a constant in my life. At 15 I got a workers permit and started my first job as a hostess of a restaurant. This began a 6 year run of me working in the food service industry waiting tables and serving food made by other people. Although my culinary creativity wasn’t highlighted in this chapter of my life, I’m grateful for the foundation it laid in understanding how a kitchen works and food safety. Once I landed my first big girl job and moved to San Francisco, I was soon swept up in the effect of living in corporate America. Busy from day job, while still trying to maintain hobbies and take care of my mental health with the pushes and pulls of every day life, one thing remained constant and that was preparing my own meals in my very first kitchen every night, just like my Pama. At the end of each chaotic day I found peace in pouring a glass of a nice Cabernet, throwing on some oldies, then thinking up and executing a fun new recipe. 

Unlike most people, Im fortunate enough to actually enjoy my day job. However, that doesn’t mean I want to dedicate hours upon hours working for someone else each week. I’m hungry for something bigger for myself; a dream to wake up and live my passion each day, creating new recipes, trying new techniques, exploring new cuisines and sharing my food experiences with the world. 

So that’s where it began and I’m here today to not only beat the white girls don’t season their food allegations, but to deliver high quality, home cooked meal preps and fun recipes with the world.