Founder and Editor in Chief
Kita Roberts launched Girl Carnivore in 2013 with a cast iron skillet, a sharp knife, zero interest in baking and a tagline that said it all: "Because boys aren't the only ones who like to play with their meat." Thirteen years, more than 1,000 recipes and a collection of 20-plus grills later, it's a full meat resource with its own test kitchen. The mission hasn't changed: tell you what to buy, how to cook it, and exactly when it's done.
2013Founded Girl Carnivore
1,000+Recipes published
2018Cooking live-fire events since
20+Grills in rotation
2022Cocktail world champion
My job is to literally play with fire, so it no longer bothers me. Building confidence over live fire is something you can only do with real, hands-on experience. Whether it's cooking salmon on the shores of the Copper River Delta in Alaska or flipping tomahawks at Turn 1 at COTA, there are hours of real experience that I put into every recipe on here.
Kita Roberts
She cooks with a thermometer, not a clock. Three Thermapens live in her travel bag and two more in the kitchen, and she'll take cast iron over any other pan, all day long, Le Creuset included. She has done the producer and processing education with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Certified Angus Beef and the American Lamb Board, taken butchery lessons with her hands on the carcass, and walked ranches and farms from coast to coast, because the best way to understand a cut is to meet the animal it came from.
On Girl Carnivore, Kita develops and tests recipes in the GC Meat Labs, reviews and approves every recipe the team publishes, and leads the Ask the Butcher column, where reader questions about cuts, labels and doneness get a straight answer with the source linked.
And no, Girl Carnivore isn't a carnivore diet site. Damned if I'd known that diet was going to trend. I started it to understand and respect the animal from nose to tail. At home I eat low-carb, protein-heavy meals, and I still won't pass up a killer mac and cheese.
Kita Roberts
Where she's cooked
Kita has been cooking live-fire events since 2018. A few of the stops:
- Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational BarbecueLynchburg, Tennessee. Cocktail world champion in 2022 as lead mixologist on team GirlsCanGrill.
- Formula 1, Circuit of the AmericasFlipping tomahawks at Turn 1, cooking in the owners’ private tent.
- Copper River Delta, AlaskaCooking salmon on the shore.
- World Food ChampionshipsCooking for the public.
- SmokeslamCooking live fire for the public.
- Open Fire Meat UpMemphis, Tennessee. Cooking live fire for the public.
- Private celebrity dinners and bourbon pairings
- + more
Kita's rules
- Cook to temperature, never the clock.
- Cast iron beats every other pan.
- The cheap cuts carry the most flavor.
- Know who raised it.
- Rest the meat. Then rest it a little more.
What Kita knows
- Choosing cuts, from value cuts to butcher's specials, and what the label on the package means
- Live-fire, charcoal and wood cooking, smoking and searing
- Whole-animal cooking: beef, pork, lamb, poultry and seafood
- Doneness and food safety by internal temperature
- Cocktails, which she covers on her sister site Libation Chronicles
Training and credentials
- Top of the Class certification, National Cattlemen's Beef Association
- Beef Quality Assurance training, National Cattlemen's Beef Association
- Masters of Beef Advocacy, National Cattlemen's Beef Association
- Producer and processing education with Certified Angus Beef, Meat by Linz, the American Lamb Board and the National Pork Board
- Hands-on butchery training
- Member, North American Travel Journalists Association, Society of American Travel Writers, and International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association
As seen and heard
Forbes, Southern Living, Simply Recipes, Homes & Gardens, Delish, CNN Underscored, Mashed and BuzzFeed. On TV: Travel Channel, Live in the D (WDIV Detroit), Daytime Columbus (NBC4), Fox 19 Cincinnati and KOTA. In the beef world: Angus Journal and Cattle Business Weekly. On air: What the Farm, Man Meat BBQ, Live Fire Cooking and Food Blog Radio, plus a run as co-host of Travel Itch Radio. Contributor to the cookbooks Holiday Grilling and The Food Stylist's Handbook.
Awards
First place and world champion, cocktail, Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue, October 2022, the event's first Shaken and Stirred contest. Lead mixologist on team GirlsCanGrill.
Beyond Girl Carnivore
Kita also publishes Libation Chronicles and PasstheSushi.com, and is a working food and travel photographer who has taught photography workshops. Media and partnership inquiries go through the contact page.
Off the clock
Kita has eaten her way through more than 15 countries looking for her next idea. Back home she's a national parks enthusiast, races mountain bikes, rolls a mean d20, and spent 10+ years in the comic book industry, which explains a lot.
Every recipe Kita publishes on Girl Carnivore is cooked, photographed and reviewed before it goes live. Read how we test, source and correct our work in our editorial guidelines.
