Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristina Kisner.
Hi Cristina, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
We arrived in 2019 from Peru. My husband, my 5 daughters, 14 suitcases, 1 dog and a lot, a lot of hope to start a new life. Our business in Peru had gone bankrupt, we lost our home, the girls had not been able to attend school for 2 years and we had fought hard to get here. We arrived full of enthusiasm to open a gluten free bakery thanks to the experience that I had gained through trial and error, in an effort to give my daughters a life free of medicines.
My oldest daughter developed an allergic rhinitis at an early age, and when she was born the second she also suffered the same, and we ran all the time to the clinic at dawn to have them nebulized. The doctor told me that there was no other way out, but only syrups, corticosteroids, inhalers and nasal sprays. There began my search for health through food. I started by removing dairy, and all processed foods, buying organic ingredients and cooking more at home. Time proved me right, little by little the medical expenses decreased and the runs to the clinic at dawn.
Shortly after, my second daughter began to have stomach problems, and no doctor found the reason for that, so I decided to try the food again, and remove the gluten, and after 3 weeks, and to the surprise of the doctors, already there were no symptoms.
All of this seemed to be just training for what was to come next.
My oldest daughter was diagnosed with a malignant tumor behind the eye, she had to be operated immediately to start chemotherapy the following week. There was a huge chain of prayer for her and when she entered the operating room, after an hour, the doctor left almost in shock and he told me, “this is a miracle, it is pus, this does not happen, it goes against all prognosis and statistics”. That was our first miracle. She was hospitalized for a month and then many problems came that led to a very rare autoimmune disease. And the treatments they gave her were for life, they began to do tests, antibiotic prophylaxis and they wanted to give her biological medicine. But I resisted again, I knew we should try again with food. So we started a special diet for autoimmune diseases and after 3 months, she was perfect and without drugs.
Seeing that our company was going bankrupt and with the new skill that I had acquired in the kitchen, we set up a small restaurant that helped my husband and me to learn about the food business.
Then we lost everything. Friends and family lent us money to buy our dream in Roswell, a gluten free bakery was for sale as a sign of destiny.
We arrived in October, we opened the restaurant in December with $ 200 in our pocket and full of hope for the opportunity to start a new life and give our daughters a better future. And then came the pandemic. But nothing was worse than what we had already been through, so it didn’t matter, we never closed the doors, rather I dedicated myself to creating more recipes and we worked until 2am to get up at 5:30 to start work. They were very hard months, very hard, but we never lost hope. Sebastian was selling on the counter and washed dishes, I cooked and made the orders, we cleaned at night when the restaurant closed and the girls helped us as much as they could, on Saturdays they helped with the service and they became experts in the kitchen too. Teamwork, family work. That is what we try to teach them, working together as a team we can do everything.
Almost a year later we had another miracle, one of our frequent customers offered to tell our story, he was the famous Humans of New York writer, Brandon Stanton. And he created a fundraising with which we were able to hire staff, buy equipment for the restaurant, pay our debts to friends and family who helped us get here, and fulfill the dream of owning a home. The road has been hard, but along the way we have met wonderful people, angels, we have learned a lot, it has been a spiritual journey.
Today we continue working a lot, Sebastian is still at the counter selling while he develops a project to ship products to the entire United States, I am writing a cookbook from home which will be published next year with William Morrow, Now I can work from home, with my daughters, where I always wanted to be. And I think this is just the beginning of a wonderful adventure like a family. I want my bakery to give hope to other people who, like me, are in search of health through food. A safety place for families with health issues and a lot of dietary restrictions. We bake gluten free, dairy free, organic, and with so much love and care.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a very hard road, we lived a nightmare for so long, but also of many lessons, of many miracles. Everything happens for some reason and we can only thank the path we have lived and the path that is coming.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Cristy’s Kitchen?
We are a gluten and dairy free cafe bakery. But, we also use organic and nutritious ingredients. We believe that food is the best medicine. With so many health issues in our family, we understand how difficult is for a family to find a safety place for their members when they have so many dietary restrictions. And also we believe, like our customers, that we have to eat healthy to prevent any disease. We offer not only healthy food, but so much care in our ingredients and procedures. We believe that cooking is an act of love.
We offer breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks… all our food is super healthy, and also is delicious.
We have pot pies, empanadas, pizzas with homemade crust and cashews mozarella, salads with our fantastic cashew cheese dressing that we made with probiotics, sandwiches with the bread we make (bagels or vegan bread), desserts like lucuma (this is an amazing Peruvian fruit) cheesecake, quinoa brownies, pumpkin donuts, cold and hot drinks. Everything even the almond and coconut milk, we made at home.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
I believe that for anything that someone does in life, it must be done with love, with passion. If you want something, give it your all. Effort, hope and always with faith that everything will turn out well, even in times when everything looks dark.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@huhfoods.com
- Website: http://www.cristyskitchenga.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cristyskitchenga/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cristyskitchenga/
