Von Diaz , Islas: A Celebration of Tropical Cooking–125 Recipes from the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Ocean Islands, in conversation with Lauren V. Allen, and Brigid Washington

Join us for a very special event in honor of Islas: A Celebration of Tropical Cooking―125 Recipes from the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Ocean Islands.

Local author, food historian, and Emmy Award-winning documentarian Von Diaz will be joined by photographer Lauren V. Allen, and chef Brigid Washington for an intimate conversation on collaborating on this book and celebrating the role of women in island communities. They’ll discuss how their backgrounds—Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Trinidadian respectively—inform how they approach their work, and the Triangle’s burgeoning creative culinary scene.

About the Book:
The islands spanning the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans are remarkable places, sharing dozens of ingredients and cooking techniques, including marinating, pickling and fermentation, braising and stewing, frying, grilling and smoking, and steaming and in-ground roasting. Bold flavors drip from the edges of each dish with tastes that represent stories of resistance, persistence, and wisdom passed down from generation to generation.

In this narrative, writer and food historian Von Diaz travels across oceans and nations to uplift the shared ancestral cooking techniques of these islands in more than 125 recipes, including intimate profiles of the historical context of each technique, stories from islanders, and step-by-step guides for recreating them at home. The ingredients and deep-rooted cooking techniques in each of these recipes typify the harmonious, synchronous spirit found in each culture’s unique cuisines. Even amid environmental chaos and food insecurity, islanders cook in ways that are soul nourishing and flavorful.

Islas is about preserving the wisdom, values, and resilience of the people who live in some of the most volatile, vulnerable places on this planet. Each recipe, an archive of strategies for persistence, creativity, and ingenuity, provides a path for cooking delicious food. But above all, these stories and recipes acknowledge that cooking delicious food for others is always a selfless act.

About the Presenters: 

Von Diaz is an Emmy Award-winning documentarian and food historian. She is the author of Islas: A Celebration of Tropical Cooking, and Coconuts & Collards: Recipes and Stories from Puerto Rico to the Deep South. She is also the founder of La Piña—a Substack newsletter covering the people, ingredients, and systems that shape global cuisine. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Atlanta, GA, she explores the intersections of food, culture, and identity. She has contributed recipes and essays to a number of cookbooks and anthologies, is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, as well as The Washington Post, NPR, StoryCorps, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appétit, among many others. In addition, she taught food studies and oral history at Duke University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and food writing and audio production workshops at New York University and The New School.

Lauren Vied Allen is a Mexican-American photographer, motion director, and stylist focused on food and travel as a means of gaining a larger understanding of cultural identities and enriching her community.

She documents culinary traditions, food, people and the crossroads where they collide. Additionally, she collaborates alongside food media industry leads to champion women’s stories and to create compelling editorial and commercial photography.

In addition to photographing and working on multiple cookbooks, including It’s Always Freezer Season, Dinner Party Project, Islas, Bodega Bakes (pub. Fall 2024), The Half-Latinx Cookbook (pub. 2025), her work can be found in The New York Times, Washington Post, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Garden & Gun, and The Local Palate. Commercially, she’s worked for Johnnie Walker, Pizza Hut, Chobani, and Burt’s Bees among other major brands.

Brigid Washington is a Trinidadian food writer, lifestyle journalist and author of the cookbooks  Coconut Ginger Shrimp Rum and Caribbean Flavors for Every Season. Her writing has appeared in  Bon Appetit, Epicurious Food & Wine, Harper’s Bazaar, Parents, Real Simple, The New York Times and many other national outlets. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her Jamaican husband Joseph and their two delicious Trin- Ja-Mercian children.