The Mondesire family
Family gathered for a meal
The Mondesire cousins

Our Story

The Mondesire Family

Three generations. One Caribbean kitchen.

Desire Food is the kitchen of the Mondesire family — a story passed down through three generations of Caribbean cooks, each one carrying forward the flavors of home while making the tradition her own.

Mommie Helen, matriarch of the Mondesire family

The Matriarch

Mommie Helen

It started with Mommie Helen. Her kitchen was always warm and always open — feeding family, feeding neighbors, feeding anyone who walked through the door at the right time of day. She cooked from memory and from instinct, the way she'd been taught and the way her grandmother had been taught before her.

The recipes in this collection trace their roots to her stove and her hands. Every pot of callaloo, every plate of crab backs, every spoonful of pumpkin fritter batter carries a little piece of Mommie Helen's love.

Joan Prince, The Caribbean Princess

Taking the Torch

Joan Prince

The Caribbean Princess

Joan grew up in Mommie Helen's kitchen, learning the recipes by watching, by tasting, by being trusted with the wooden spoon. When her time came to lead the family kitchen, she carried the tradition with grace — and earned her name, The Caribbean Princess.

Her recipes have fed family gatherings, holidays, weddings, and ordinary Tuesday nights. The classics you'll find here — the crab backs, the spinach cakes, the red snapper soup — are her interpretations of the dishes Mommie Helen taught her. Time-tested, perfected, and now shared with you.

Kajli Prince, Chef Prince

Elevating the Tradition

Kajli Prince

Chef Prince

Joan's son Kajli grew up at his mother's side in the kitchen, absorbing the same lessons she'd absorbed from Mommie Helen. But Kajli took it further — into culinary training, into restaurants, into a career as Chef Prince. He's the next generation, carrying island flavors into new places.

Where The Caribbean Princess preserves the recipes the way they've always been made, Chef Prince reimagines them — the same soul, refined technique. His original dishes are coming to this collection soon. The same flavors. A fresh voice.

"Every recipe carries a story. Every meal is a memory in the making."

— The Mondesire Family