Lili kinsman's Story

Lili Kinsman thinks food is big love and is prepared to put her money where her mouth is. Born into a restaurant family in the northwest corner of Connecticut, Lili began her career as a professional chef in 1985. After studying at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, Kinsman honed her culinary skills in the lovely Connecticut River Valley, where she worked her way up the food chain in several fine New England Inns. As a private chef she prepared dishes for everyone from bat mitzvah guests to world leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Maya Angelou and Rosa Parks, who loved her Peanut Soup. Her love for the lore, history and science of food eventually led her to the classroom where Chef Kinsman taught culinary arts to inner-city kids in a vocational setting.As a self-proclaimed ‘Culture Vulture’ and an aficionada of ‘Food Anthropology,’ Kinsman says she feels compelled to search the planet for the ideal blend of ritual, skill, and art that are an intrinsic part of food customs both abroad and in her own country.

Kinsman’s food-driven journeys have led her to over nine countries in Europe where much of the time she backpacked solo through small hamlets and villages as a way to intensify her relationship with the regional cuisines she grew up eating at home. In the early 1990’s, Lili managed to squeeze extended stints in the Caribbean and Mexico in between cheffing gigs. It’s in these places that she learned to shop and cook using locally grown and sustainable produce, fish, and meats. West Indian and Mexican specialties still rank high on her list of food loves.

“Each culture has traditions that are layered with simplicity and complexity simultaneously. It’s my job to peel those layers apart to see how the food and drink customs of a particular group of people affect their heritage, their social systems, their economy, and their future. It’s every bit as important as examining a culture’s art, architecture and political structure. Food is the nucleus of a community. I can learn and teach so much after seeing how a group of people eat –not just what they eat- but how they grow it, how they harvest it and how they eat it. After seeing the holidays and festivals and the markets where locals shop for meats and produce and spices…I can understand the fundamental nature of a society. That makes me crazy for more–more food, more knowledge, more understanding of civilizations, including my own, through eating & drinking customs.”

Lili Kinsman began cooking the idea for a culturally noteworthy food and travel show in 2004 while pursuing a degree in Broadcast Journalism. After years of discussing the project with media colleagues and her husband, Michael Cabelus, Kinsman determined the time was right to share her passion for food and travel with the increasingly ‘food-buzzed’ public. As fate would have it, Kinsman met Director Adrian Nieves at a film festival and together they collected a coalition of associates attracted to their delicious quest for the best. After many nights of sharing ideas over good food and plenty of drink, Tasty Planet was served. Unsurprisingly, Kinsman is the show’s intrepid chef and host.

When not traveling, eating and raving, Kinsman lives in Durham, Connecticut where she is currently writing her first book, “Song of the Mouth,” a collection of recipes and stories about the big love of food.