Food and I have had a long, incredibly complicated love story.
For years, I chased the elusive “how to get skinny” dream, getting completely lost in punishing crash diets that left me exhausted and uninspired. I viewed the kitchen as a place of restriction rather than a place of joy.
Today, Cafe Delites represents my personal liberation from that mindset. Here, we celebrate the absolute joy of eating.
The Story Behind the Screen
Cafe Delites didn’t begin in a boardroom or with a polished plan. It started on my kitchen floor, in the middle of a kind of physical and emotional pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
For years, movement was my oxygen. I was a dance and Zumba instructor who loved what I did with everything in me, until life shifted in the hardest way. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after two long years of searching for answers. Zumba became more than a career then. It was my lifeline, the thing that reminded me I was still here, still fighting. But just as I began finding my way back, endometriosis arrived and forced me to give up dancing completely. Losing that part of myself, especially alongside a history of trauma, felt like everything was slowly being stripped away.
I turned to cooking and food photography as a way to cope, something to hold onto when everything else felt quiet and heavy. As a mother, a wife, and someone trying to keep going, I built Cafe Delites from the ground up, working up to 22 hours a day, 7 days a week, for years. I was relentless. There were days I filmed recipes for millions, then collapsed on the floor in pain between takes. As the site grew, so did the disconnect. To the world, I was creating beautiful, full flavoured recipes. Behind the scenes, I was disappearing.
I was trying to be everything for everyone else, while quietly losing myself. My weight reached 125 kilograms, and I got to a point where I avoided mirrors because I didn’t recognise the person looking back. I had built something incredible, but I had lost who I was in the process.
Now, this journey is about more than recipes or milestones. It’s about finding my way back, piece by piece, and learning that I can’t keep feeding the world if I’m still starving myself.
Experience and Recognition
I am incredibly humbled to see my creations traveling so far. From being featured on platforms like Country Living, Delish, Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, Huffpost, BRIT + CO, Australia Best Recipes, Food Network and Epicurious to chatting about my passion for Zumba on Channel 7’s Today Tonight. It’s been such a whirlwind!
One of my absolute favorite moments was winning the Best Recipes Home Cook Hero Competition. My Lamington French Toast with Raspberry Jam Syrup holds such a special place in my heart.
Beyond the kitchen, I’ve had the joy of partnering with brands like Natvia and supporting causes like the Lymphoma Coalition.
The Comeback
Life is Too Short Not to Enjoy Good Food
Realizing I was fading away, I made the terrifying decision to step back from the cameras. Over a three year hiatus, I went to war for my own physical and mental health. I lost 55 kilograms, but more importantly, I found the woman I had abandoned. I learned to love myself again.
Surviving stage four cancer and overcoming immense trauma lit a permanent fire inside of me. It taught me one undeniable truth. Life is entirely too short not to enjoy good food.
I am so incredibly grateful you are here. Whether you are here for the famous Deviled Potatoes, the Tomato Soup Mac and Cheese, or just a safe space to connect over our shared journeys, you are welcome at my table.
Karina, your recipes feed my family every week. I’ve searched through many blogs for successful meal plans and single recipes, your blog is hands down the best. Everything you make has such great flavour. Each one of your recipes had been such a success at our house, especially the soups! I couldn’t cook a soup to save my life before I made your broccoli cheese soup. Now it’s my go-to to impress guests. It’s way better than Panera, and people have a hard time believing I made it from scratch. Thank you for each and every one of your recipes. Please never stop, so I can keep on cooking!
Hello Karina,
I accidentally found your site through your Facebook page. Tried one recipe (I think it was chicken in white sauce with capers), and liked it so much! Simple, quick, reach on flavor. It was perfect. Then I tried a second recipe… Now I am your fan 🙂 Since me and my husband started to eat healthy, we had to start to cook for ourselves as well. You have a lot of recipes that fit our no-sugar diet. And what’s important – easy to cook, realistic ingredients, and crazy delicious!
Thank you very much, Karina, for your work. You are amazing cook, and beautiful woman (I saw your pictures).
Just so you know: when I am thinking what to cook today, my first move is to open your site. And most of the times I will cook something from there.
Goid job, Marina!
Thank you 🙂
Wow…………. thanks Karina, not only are you gorgeous……………your almost as good a cook as me. l0l
Karina…. Nothing better than inspirational human stories that one can contemplate over delicious food. Thank you for both. I only started to love cooking late in life (60 yo guy) yet it offers great joy. Cooking is a terrific way to show love to friends and those you care about. Unfortunately, the waistline grew with my skills. So whilst looking for low carb healthy recipes stumbled serendipitously across your blog. My first effort sucked (see my comment with chicken carbonara – totally my fault). Otherwise, I am a new loyal follower.
Warm regards,
Buck.
God bless you great recipes my husband picked your honey chicken recipe.
WOW – The Banana Bread is phantastic!
Dear Karina,
we had some Bananas left and I didn’t know what to do. Then I found your website and the Banana Bread is phantastic. I put just 100g chocolate drops into the dough and made a dark chocolate coating with dark.
The Banana Bread didn’t survive 24 hours ;-). I will bake it more often!
Thank you very much for the recipe.
Best regards from Munich, Germany,
Nasim
Haha Nasim that’s success right there! You’re very welcome!
Hi Karina,
I follow your lovely cooking, It is very exciting and delicious prescriptions.
Thanks and God bless you
I use your site a lot and really love trying new recipes! Do you also have an app for the iPhone?
Thanks for making me a better cook!
Tim
Not yet Tim! Waiting for the right offer and easy to use design to get one up and running!
You are an inspiration Karina! Seeing all have been thru in life and seeing where you are now is nothing short of incredible. You’r an amazing chef too… I’ve tried at least a dozen of your recipes and none has ever disappointed. Keep up all the good work and I’m look forward to seeing what comes out of your kitchen next!
Thanks Jay!
Hello Karina,
I made your ‘Worlds Best Fudgiest Brownies’ a week ago, using 70% dark pieces from a local Ecuadorian chocolatier. Good lord, this was so delicious that I’m surprised it’s still legal! Thank you for sharing your expertise with us all…your Youtube videos are easy to follow and exceptionally drool-worthy.
– Sparks
Hello Karina,
My birthday is next week but we’re celebrating with Friends on Saturday. With around 30+ hungry friends…
So, I thought about making fajitas and began my search for a good recipe. The ones I have found and tried before taste like cinnamon, and the chicken is too bland for my taste. I needed to cook a lot, and fast for that matter. So I thought about grilling the chicken.
I searched and searched, and suddenly I found: ” Best Chicken Fajitas”. And I thought: …”after the recipes I already read, this deserves a chance as well.” So I went through it.
Last night I made my test (before the big preparation), with 2 huge chicken breasts. I did not make them on a cast iron pan (I don’t have one larger than 12″, I could have used this pan, but I wanted to try the same process I would use for the larger amount), so I made them on the grill, but following your directions, until the chicken was 95% done (just a tad pink)… almost done. Then I came inside the kitchen and ready up the vegetables (I like them crunchy and not all soft), cut the chicken in strips, and then incorporated everything together.
Let me tell you (and all)… this recipe is Restaurant Quality, or even better: Grandma/Mom Quality.
The only things I added/changed was Granulated Bouillon (same quantity as salt), and instead of hot pepper flakes I used some sweet chipotle (no salt) ground condiment.
Excellent recipe and perfect presentation… THANK YOU!!!
Happy Birthday Juan!