Chef Tara Cannaday Pairs Nostalgic Flavors With Delightful Surprises & Each Treat Includes A Secret Ingredient That Makes Her Craft Truly Special

"I am a pastry chef, classically trained. I've been in food now for 14 years. I will say I've been cooking and baking since I was very little I grew up on a farm in Florida and always had really fresh produce and meat as well to use to cook with. And a lot of time with my mother in the kitchen," said Chef Tara Cannaday, head chef of Pot + Pan, "I was born in Florida and stayed there until I was 12 and then actually moved to New Hampshire, Southern New Hampshire with my mom and my brother. My mom's side of the family is from New Hampshire. So went to high school there and then ended up in Boston for music school. Music was my first career and enjoyed cooking and entertaining along the way. Like when I was in high school I was always in drama club and whenever we would have like, you know, team building events, if you will, or cast parties, I was always the one that was making treats and food. It certainly continued into college when we are at music school like poor college musicians, trying to do little potlucks and things I would always be like, you know what I got this guys I'm going to take my paycheck from the week and make a big spread of food." 

From there, Chef Tara Cannnaday took on many roles with five-star restaurants but eventually took her career to Maine. She started a food truck where she sold the best macaroons in East Prom in Portland and now is the head chef at Pot + Pan, a cannabis edible company that puts food first.

"I was still very heavily involved in my own business, leading up to COVID. My daughter was getting older at this point and I felt a little bit more of a need to be home with her more often and have a more consistent schedule, which I wasn't getting with my own business. And, you know, still love what I did, but need to kind of have a greater purpose in what I was doing. So Pot + Pan had posted an ad online that they were looking for a baker. And I was like, You know what, I'm very passionate about the cannabis space. Something that you know is medicinal and helps people and I love helping people. So I reached out and said, Hey, this is what I can do. I think I can offer this to you all. And yeah, they went for it. Kerry John, who's one of the owners actually had already known about my business and was a fan. So they told me they were very excited when, when my resume came through, I think they meant it. Yeah, I was just so thrilled to have the opportunity. And it really kind of created this new challenge for me food-wise. Sure, you know, cannabis is, is a medicine, but it's really just an ingredient. And I call it my like, little secret ingredient. Because that's, that's all it is. So I'm still creating food that I love and with, you know, purpose and thought, I have this little extra secret ingredient that makes you feel good, right? And that's, that's really what we're all about here. So anytime I'm planning menus, I approach it like I would if there was no cannabis. Honestly, I feel like I've finally found where I have been meant to be this whole time. I'm so grateful for the journey that has brought me here. But now I'm like, I'm really in it. And I'm loving all of the people that I'm meeting as a result of being a part of this business great. And being able to be the forward-facing person like, yeah, it really plays into what I did as a musician and a performer earlier on," said Tara.

Tara's goal is to not only bring her delicious recipes to the table with Pot + Pan but to educate people of edibles and how they can approach it through their lifestyle.

We're trying to take this unique approach to cannabis where Moms and people who are curious will feel like it's approachable and easy and comfortable. Not having to go into a store where it's a bunch of, for lack of a better term stoners who might judge you if you're only in there trying to buy a five-milligram gummy as opposed to 100-milligram gummy. We are trying to be approachable and say like, Hey, you can trust