Tiny Kitchen Feast

Natalie Rodriguez is a professionally trained chef, self proclaimed poet, wife, dog mom, and full time traveler. Growing up in her Puerto Rican grandmother’s kitchen, she has a natural affinity for cooking. She attended the Culinary Institute of Charleston in 2013 and quickly started a career as a chef, working amongst various kitchens around Charleston, South Carolina. After over a decade of the food and beverage grind, she felt a relentless pull to travel and to expand her humanity. She and her wife Abigail quit their jobs, sold all of their belongings, and bought a van to travel the country. At the time of making the decision, 'vanlife' was still a fairly new lifestyle as portrayed on social media and the idea of cooking in a van didn’t seem like a luxury, but they did the research, saved the money, got married, and built the van all within a year and a half of making the decision that would change the rest of their lives. Three years and counting of life on the road and Natalie has cooked all across the country, Baja, Mexico, Canada, and Alaska, in just about every landscape you can think of. She does the occasional private chef dinner and shares her life journey on her instagram @letsplayrideandseek. There you can find excerpts from her travels, cooking videos, and recipes. Natalie’s other love languages are writing poetry, losing herself in music, and digging her bare feet into whatever landscape she currently resides.