Ixta Belfrage spent her youth absorbing food traditions in Italy, Mexico and Brazil. She began her culinary career at Ottolenghi's NOPI restaurant, before moving to the Test Kitchen, where she worked for Yotam Ottolenghi for five years, contributing to his columns in the Guardian and The New York Times. Ixta was Yotam's co-author on bestselling Flavor (2020) before publishing her first solo cookbook: MEZCLA (2022), which was nominated for "best international cookbook" at the James Beard Awards. MEZCLA was named one of the best cookbooks of 2022 by Bon Appé tit, Saveur, Delish, Epicurious, Amazon, The Independent and more. Ixta has collaborated with the Culinary Institute of America, Food 52 and Cherrybombe among others, and is a contributing editor at Elle Magazine.
