Exploring Life & Business with Andrea Condes (Murdoch) of Four Directions Cuisine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Condes (Murdoch).

Hi Andrea, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I originally started a version of this company back in Wisconsin around the same time I was going through a divorce. That divorce gave me the freedom I needed to come to Colorado. I started over personally and rebranded my business to Four Directions Cuisine. It’s a nod to my Indigenous Andean roots and also pays respect to Colorado as a Four Corners state.

The business has evolved over the past seven years in the way of educational offerings and embracing a wider range of global cuisine in our menus. As a trans-racial adoptee, food has been my most impactful teacher in returning to my own Andean culture. There are pre-colonial/tribal/Indigenous people across the globe and I’ve always enjoyed learning from others and sharing parts of myself with others through food and cuisine.

In a time where there is so much pain and instability in our world, I believe a great deal of communication and understanding can come from our respective cuisines. There is always a story attached and that is where humanity lies.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The journey has been wild! There have been a lot of difficult lessons learned, traumas endured and survived, wounds healed, dirt and blood wiped off and then I kept it moving. Once I stepped away from my day job to be a full time entrepreneur there was no turning back in my mind. My creative brain was uncaged and I needed big projects to satiate my appetite.

We just launched two projects in May – The Rooted Andina (TRA) and Pachamama5453 (P5453). I’ll share more details about the TRA experience in a moment. We self funded these build outs on a shoestring budget. We took a step back and decided that the rebuild that we were doing ourselves, no contractors or consultants, would be a part of the story telling and journey. The land we’re on has abundant resources. Rock specifically. The previous “owner” of the land had left several types of rock and boulders on the land with neglected trees and other plants. My project partner and fellow Andina, Alejandra (Tobar Alatriz) and I understand that we are displaced Indigenous women and therefore immigrant settlers on Ute, Cheyenne and Arapahoe lands. We feel honored to be the current stewards of the land but first we had to learn from Her.

The land preserved the discarded flagstone for us to pull out, clean up and build a patio for one of our dining tables at TRA. Two seasons of crops were mostly unsuccessful while we learned what worked at this altitude, in this grow zone and slowly adding Andean crops that also do well at this altitude. That’s what the 5453 stands for – the altitude at which our
experimental microfarm sits. We hustled hard to save extra money to buy the materials needed to rebuild the rotting fence ourselves and were grateful to the volunteers from Tipi Raisers who helped us demo the old fence. We’re grateful for all of the community members who volunteered their assistance to us so far in this journey.

A different smaller section of the fence still needs to be rebuilt but it’s not rotting and falling over. It’s part of the storytelling. There are several things we still want to construct and that will be a part of the story as well. In South American countries, you will often see houses that are “incomplete.” We’re not taking out half million dollar loans that we hope to pay off before we die. We build it wall by wall, piece by piece. The abundance of river rock that is in the land here will be used to build a huatia – a traditional Andean earthen oven. It will become a part of the TRA dining experience and that will become another part of the story. That’s a project for next season though.

When we say that we built this with our own hands, it’s a literal statement. Women built this. This is not a colonial business model and we incorporate alternative forms of economy so that we can reach more community members and help empower them. Creating a trail where one didn’t exist before takes significant time, effort and community. We’re fortunate to have several community members in our corner who check in on us and offer what they can to help keep the work moving.

As you know, we’re big fans of Four Directions Cuisine. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I specialize in global Indigenous cuisine. I am originally from the Andes of Venezuela but grew up most of my life in the US with parents who do not share my cultural background. I have always found food fascinating so it seems natural that it became my biggest teacher when reconnecting with my culture as an adult. Twenty-two years of professional kitchens all over the US, education from The Culinary Institute of America and the kind, cultural education from Native country has helped to shape Four Directions Cuisine and The Rooted Andina pop up concept.

TRA is a four+ course seasonal pop up chef’s table meant to tell Indigenous stories and culture through food. Take our IndigeBrunch held on Sundays for example. Instead of chicken and waffles as you may know it, we source Ute Mountain Ute blue cornmeal for the corn waffle and then top it with fried quail that’s been soaked in sage seasoned buttermilk. Drizzle a little Colorado hot honey or infused maple syrup and call it brunch!

P5453 is our Indigenous science education project where my project partner and I facilitate workshops and knowledge exchange opportunities on the subjects of Indigenous agriculture, polyculture, sustainability and more. The two projects are interconnected because a portion of the crops we raise are utilized in TRA dinners and brunch while supplementing with Native Indigenous vendors and local vendors to pour back into those two economies as well. When guests come to the land for a TRA experience they get a brief tour of the P5453 operation. We have created a closed gardening system including generating our own compost for the garden beds. We minimize waste and return materials back to the earth. Our biggest goal was to be able to scale this work so that regardless of food sovereignty project capacity we could help educate and empower others to engage in their own acts of sovereignty. That’s dreamy to me. All of this work is what get’s me out of bed in the morning.

I want readers to know that this work is multifaceted, multilayered and interconnected. We love what we do and we want to keep doing it. We’re excited to be able to offer a pop up concept and location in Arvada just 15 minutes outside of Denver during the warm months. We’re overwhelmed with the beauty and grounding that P5453 has brought us and our guests. We take educational workshop bookings all throughout the grow season. And of course we still offer catering through Four Directions Cuisine from office drop offs to more intimate private chef’s tables for a dinner party or special occasion. Our website has a full list of services as well as a contact form to help us capture the right information to curate the best experience for you.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I would share two recommendations with not only those just starting out but also to maintain that throughout your career.

1) Observe, listen and absorb knowledge. Learn as much as possible. Dive deep into history, etymology, growing your own food if possible etc… Go as deep into the process as you can because the more you know the better you understand and respect your overall craft. I personally think it would be cool to make my own ceramic dishes for The Rooted Andina some day.

2) Hone your skills, yes, and also seek information on other subjects that could help you with your craft or business. Marketing is something you will always need in your wheelhouse whether you are marketing yourself to an employer or you are marketing your work and business to customers.

Pricing:

• $25-125 per person

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fourdirectionscuisine.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fourdirectionscuisine/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fourdirectionscuisine
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/?trk=nav_logo
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusSPgqX9mnGszQGaMjUgRQ

Image Credits
© Denver Art Museum, photos by Christina Jackson Alejandra Tobar (Alatriz) Andrea Condes