Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So, Chef Andrea, thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
First of all, I'm so sorry for getting to you late,
and thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Yeah, no worries. Thank you for having me on today.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm very glad to and we've got about We've got.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
About seven minutes or so right now.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm really sorry about this, my mistake, but your life
story just seems so fascinating and it informs much of
why and how you do what you do. So can
you just tell us a little bit about you and
then we'll talk about we'll talk about Four Directions and food.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Absolutely, thank you again for having me on this morning.
Good morning everyone.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
My name is Chef Andrea Condez, and I am the
chef and founder of Four Directions Cuisine based here in Arvada, Colorado. Yes,
and we also work nationally to bring indigenous culture through
food to as many folks as possible.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
How about your personal life story though that part, I mean,
you don't have to give us.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
The long version, but it seems fascinating.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
So I am a transracial adoptee from Caracas, Venezuela.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I was adopted when I was you know.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Something like six nine weeks old something in there, and
you know, very wonderful Army couple raised me. And because
I am a transracial adoptee, which means my parents do
not share my I think in cultural backgrounds. I've been
very disconnected from my culture for the majority of my life.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
And when I was about twenty.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I want to say, like twenty seven or so, I
really really really started to do significant research and food experimentation,
just recipe testing and really reconnecting to my own Andean
culture through food.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
How much do you know about your birth parents? If anything?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Nothing?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Wow, So you're you know, in a way, you're sort
of making your your best guess You're you're like a
detective work in a way of understanding yourself.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Right.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Yeah, in a way, you know, working with food has
significantly grounded me in my own personal being because it
grounds me in my ancestry. And so by connecting to food,
I have really reconnected not just to my ancestry, but
also connected to myself in that way. And that's a
(02:32):
really really special process and a unique process for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah. When when I first heard of you, it was
in the context of an event that has since been
postponed till till next year, and we're talking about you know,
indigenous cuisine and so on. And uh, before I read
about you, and before I knew that I was going
to have you on the show, you know, I had
been thinking more you know, navajo and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And I've been to one or two restaurants like that.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
But obviously, indigenous cuisine in the Western Hemisphere goes beyond
and your living proof of this goes beyond just what
Americans might come to an American's mind when you say
Native American. So tell us a little bit about the
cuisine that you create.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Oh, I would love to thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Native and indigenous food is so so hugely expansive because
the diaspora of the Americas is very expansive. It encompasses
what we now call Canada, the United States, Mexico, South America,
Central America.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
All of that.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Is also referred to as Turtle Islands, which has its
own beautiful cultural stories it's attached to it. But I,
as an Andean Native, I you know, really enjoy working
with potatoes. Tomatoes, products like quinoa and amorans. All of
those products originated, all those crops that say originated in
(04:01):
South America.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
And so to to.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Know that potatoes are as popular as they are, and
for folks to have such little context in terms of
that crop etymology, what its origins are. It's just so
much fun to share that with folks in a dish
and and to really see their their minds open up
and to understand that potatoes, you know, one of their
(04:26):
favorite you know, probably identify it as Irish products actually
originated in the andes of South America, and that there
are over three thousand varietals as opposed to the half
a dozen or so that we see in US grocery stores.
So it's a lot of fun to play with food
as a tool to educate folks and also just really
(04:48):
nourish them fulfill them.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
We're talking with chef Andrea Condis from Four Directions Cuisine
in Oravada, So pardon to stupid question here.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Do you do?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Are you a traditional restaurant or a caterer or both?
Speaker 1 (05:04):
What exactly do you do?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
We actually do a lot of different things.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
We are a food and education company, and so while
we do have our roots and catering that's how we started,
we have greatly expanded into wholesale. We did retail for
a limited period of time. We actually just launched a
beautiful outdoor gathering space, a chef's table that runs June
(05:32):
through Indigenous People's Day, weather permitting, of course. And we
also have a pending nonprofit in an educational garden that
we call Pachro Mama fifty four fifty.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Three where we share growing knowledge.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And experiences with youth groups and individuals all the way
to simply the curious adult.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And that's been a really beautiful process as well.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So if people want to eat your food right now,
how can they do that?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
So right now we are fully ensconced in holiday catering season,
so you can find us, you know, popping up here
and there. You'll see us predominantly at private catering events.
We work with a lot of nonprofit partners, colleges, universities.
You are actually going to see some holiday desserts popping
(06:28):
up here very very soon.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
For the month of December.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
We have a beautiful vegan and gluten free corn cake.
We utilize Mountaint yellow and blue corn for that, and
we also have a little variety pack of cookies coming
to one of our favorite and long standing wholesale customers,
con Vivo Cafe, which is a bilingual Guatemalan woman owned
(06:53):
cafe here in Denver. It's the best and it's incredibly
dangerous that I only live twelve minutes away from this.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Well. If you want to learn more about chef Andrea
and Four Directions Cuisine, the website is four Directions Cuisine
dot com. I got to figure out how to meet
up with you sometime and try some of your food,
maybe when you get back into the season when you're
doing the outdoor the outdoor space or something like that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I would love to try it.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Absolutely, we'd love to have you out and then in
a combination of cuisine and also just Ancestral. Being my
partner and I have launched Ancestral Harmony Retreats and the
next one is coming up very quickly, the weekend just
before Thankstaking, So we have dates through January posted online
(07:40):
right now at the website that you shared.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Okay, well, yeah, Four Directions Cuisine dot Com. All right,
I'm late, but you have to just tell me very quickly,
what did thanks taking mean?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
That is what a lot of Native folks refer to.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Thanksgiving in the traditional school systems was taught as this
beautiful dinner between colonial settlers and the indigenous peoples of
this Lands, and that's not exactly accurate.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Thanks taking is much more accurate. And so that's how
I auto default refer to.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I had a feeling it was in that direction. It
is after all, four directions cuisine. Chef Andrea, thanks so
much of your times.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Great to talk to you right wise.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Thank you so much, really appreciate you having me this morning,
and we'd love to have you out to the root
of Dun Diana and then the other event coming up.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Sam, all right, we'll do it. Thank you, Chef
So, Chef Andrea, thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
First of all, I'm so sorry for getting to you late,
and thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Yeah, no worries. Thank you for having me on today.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm very glad to and we've got about We've got.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
About seven minutes or so right now.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm really sorry about this, my mistake, but your life
story just seems so fascinating and it informs much of
why and how you do what you do. So can
you just tell us a little bit about you and
then we'll talk about we'll talk about Four Directions and food.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Absolutely, thank you again for having me on this morning.
Good morning everyone.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
My name is Chef Andrea Condez, and I am the
chef and founder of Four Directions Cuisine based here in Arvada, Colorado. Yes,
and we also work nationally to bring indigenous culture through
food to as many folks as possible.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
How about your personal life story though that part, I mean,
you don't have to give us.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
The long version, but it seems fascinating.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
So I am a transracial adoptee from Caracas, Venezuela.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I was adopted when I was you know.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Something like six nine weeks old something in there, and
you know, very wonderful Army couple raised me. And because
I am a transracial adoptee, which means my parents do
not share my I think in cultural backgrounds. I've been
very disconnected from my culture for the majority of my life.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
And when I was about twenty.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I want to say, like twenty seven or so, I
really really really started to do significant research and food experimentation,
just recipe testing and really reconnecting to my own Andean
culture through food.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
How much do you know about your birth parents? If anything?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Nothing?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Wow, So you're you know, in a way, you're sort
of making your your best guess You're you're like a
detective work in a way of understanding yourself.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Right.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Yeah, in a way, you know, working with food has
significantly grounded me in my own personal being because it
grounds me in my ancestry. And so by connecting to food,
I have really reconnected not just to my ancestry, but
also connected to myself in that way. And that's a
(02:32):
really really special process and a unique process for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah. When when I first heard of you, it was
in the context of an event that has since been
postponed till till next year, and we're talking about you know,
indigenous cuisine and so on. And uh, before I read
about you, and before I knew that I was going
to have you on the show, you know, I had
been thinking more you know, navajo and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And I've been to one or two restaurants like that.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
But obviously, indigenous cuisine in the Western Hemisphere goes beyond
and your living proof of this goes beyond just what
Americans might come to an American's mind when you say
Native American. So tell us a little bit about the
cuisine that you create.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Oh, I would love to thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Native and indigenous food is so so hugely expansive because
the diaspora of the Americas is very expansive. It encompasses
what we now call Canada, the United States, Mexico, South America,
Central America.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
All of that.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Is also referred to as Turtle Islands, which has its
own beautiful cultural stories it's attached to it. But I,
as an Andean Native, I you know, really enjoy working
with potatoes. Tomatoes, products like quinoa and amorans. All of
those products originated, all those crops that say originated in
(04:01):
South America.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
And so to to.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Know that potatoes are as popular as they are, and
for folks to have such little context in terms of
that crop etymology, what its origins are. It's just so
much fun to share that with folks in a dish
and and to really see their their minds open up
and to understand that potatoes, you know, one of their
(04:26):
favorite you know, probably identify it as Irish products actually
originated in the andes of South America, and that there
are over three thousand varietals as opposed to the half
a dozen or so that we see in US grocery stores.
So it's a lot of fun to play with food
as a tool to educate folks and also just really
(04:48):
nourish them fulfill them.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
We're talking with chef Andrea Condis from Four Directions Cuisine
in Oravada, So pardon to stupid question here.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Do you do?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Are you a traditional restaurant or a caterer or both?
Speaker 1 (05:04):
What exactly do you do?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
We actually do a lot of different things.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
We are a food and education company, and so while
we do have our roots and catering that's how we started,
we have greatly expanded into wholesale. We did retail for
a limited period of time. We actually just launched a
beautiful outdoor gathering space, a chef's table that runs June
(05:32):
through Indigenous People's Day, weather permitting, of course. And we
also have a pending nonprofit in an educational garden that
we call Pachro Mama fifty four fifty.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Three where we share growing knowledge.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And experiences with youth groups and individuals all the way
to simply the curious adult.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And that's been a really beautiful process as well.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So if people want to eat your food right now,
how can they do that?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
So right now we are fully ensconced in holiday catering season,
so you can find us, you know, popping up here
and there. You'll see us predominantly at private catering events.
We work with a lot of nonprofit partners, colleges, universities.
You are actually going to see some holiday desserts popping
(06:28):
up here very very soon.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
For the month of December.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
We have a beautiful vegan and gluten free corn cake.
We utilize Mountaint yellow and blue corn for that, and
we also have a little variety pack of cookies coming
to one of our favorite and long standing wholesale customers,
con Vivo Cafe, which is a bilingual Guatemalan woman owned
(06:53):
cafe here in Denver. It's the best and it's incredibly
dangerous that I only live twelve minutes away from this.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Well. If you want to learn more about chef Andrea
and Four Directions Cuisine, the website is four Directions Cuisine
dot com. I got to figure out how to meet
up with you sometime and try some of your food,
maybe when you get back into the season when you're
doing the outdoor the outdoor space or something like that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I would love to try it.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Absolutely, we'd love to have you out and then in
a combination of cuisine and also just Ancestral. Being my
partner and I have launched Ancestral Harmony Retreats and the
next one is coming up very quickly, the weekend just
before Thankstaking, So we have dates through January posted online
(07:40):
right now at the website that you shared.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Okay, well, yeah, Four Directions Cuisine dot Com. All right,
I'm late, but you have to just tell me very quickly,
what did thanks taking mean?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
That is what a lot of Native folks refer to.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Thanksgiving in the traditional school systems was taught as this
beautiful dinner between colonial settlers and the indigenous peoples of
this Lands, and that's not exactly accurate.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Thanks taking is much more accurate. And so that's how
I auto default refer to.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I had a feeling it was in that direction. It
is after all, four directions cuisine. Chef Andrea, thanks so
much of your times.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Great to talk to you right wise.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Thank you so much, really appreciate you having me this morning,
and we'd love to have you out to the root
of Dun Diana and then the other event coming up.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Sam, all right, we'll do it. Thank you, Chef
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