Mika Leon turns family exile into Cuban Soul cookbook
Miami chef Mika Leon traces three generations of exile, from Cuba to Spain to Florida, through the 100 recipes in her debut cookbook, Cuban Soul.
Mika Leon releases her Cuban Soul cookbook on October 6, a 100-recipe collection tracing her family’s path from Cuba to Spain to Miami.
Hachette Book Group publishes "Cuban Soul: 100 Vibrant Recipes from Mi Cocina," Leon’s first book, also listed through Porchlight Books. It draws on dishes built across three kitchens: her grandfather’s in Valencia, her family’s backyard cantina in Miami, and her own restaurant in Coral Gables.
Cuban Soul cookbook gathers 100 family recipes
Three generations, three countries, one picadillo recipe that never changed.
The book runs to 100 recipes collected under the title "Mi Cocina," Spanish for "my kitchen." One confirmed dish is empanadas de carne, beef empanadas stuffed with picadillo, ground beef cooked with olives, capers, and raisins for sweetness against the salt.
Leon has worked in South Florida kitchens for a decade. She started with Mika Bites, a wholesale desserts company, then ran a food truck serving Cuban tacos before opening Caja Caliente, her restaurant in Coral Gables, Florida.
Television built her name before the Cuban Soul cookbook existed. She has appeared on Food Network’s Tournament of Champions, Guy’s Grocery Games, Beat Bobby Flay, and Chopped, plus Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, and Family Dinner with Andrew Zimmern. Each show put her cooking in front of a national audience years before the book existed.
A double exile shapes the Cuban Soul menu
Her grandfather opened one of the first Cuban family-run restaurants in Valencia, Spain, after fleeing political instability in Cuba in the 1970s. When unrest reached Spain in the 1980s, the family left again, this time for Miami.
In Miami, they ran a cantina from their own backyard, the same instinct that now drives the Cuban Soul cookbook’s recipe list. Other chefs have turned one restaurant’s story into a first cookbook this year, though few carry a family route across three countries.
Miami and Beaches lists a "Cuban Soul: A Meet & Greet and Book Signing with Mika Leon" event, confirming promotion beyond the national release date. Coral Gables’ restaurant scene has shifted this year, and Caja Caliente stays open through it.
Three countries, one grandfather’s recipe book, and a decade of restaurant work before a publisher called.
