Denver 7: Indigenous chef uses native ingredients to connect with her culture, share it with others

Denver 7 | Angelika Albaladejo | November 18, 2024

ARVADA, Colo. — Walking through her home garden, Chef Andrea Condes points out the plants she most enjoys cooking with – fruits and vegetables indigenous to the Americas.

“This is abuela, our grandmother cactus,” she said, showing off the prickly pear cactus she’s nurturing in her front yard. The fruit, known as tuna, is not only edible and delicious, but also connected to a rich food culture.

Chef Condes grows and cooks with indigenous ingredients to understand her heritage and share it with others.

Her ancestors are from the Andean Mountain range in South America. But she was adopted as a baby from a Venezuelan orphanage and grew up in the midwestern United States.

“I just didn't see a lot of South American representation,” Condes said. As a professionally trained chef, she set out to learn and share as much as she could about the ingredients and techniques of her Indigenous roots.

“I've discovered so much about myself,” Condes said. “It was very much a personal journey that I was on, and it turned into a business plan.”

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