The Case for Change: Celebrity Chef Andrea Drummer

I’ve never wanted to be the first anything. It takes courage to do something no one has ever done before, to dream a new dream. Chef Andrea Drummer has that courage. Today we discuss the changing tides within our industry and our culture...covering everything from cannabis to diversity.

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SHOW NOTES

• Noticing race inequality
• Grew up poor in a middle-class neighborhood
• Noticed white flight
• Noticed the difference in education when attending a partially private, predominantly white high school and majority black high schools
• Called an n-word at age 19 by a man in a pickup truck
• Starting in culinary
• Always been creative in the kitchen
• 1st career in non-profit
• Advocated against cannabis use
• 2nd career as a cannabis chef
• Getting into cannabis cooking
• Moved to California from New York
• Went to culinary school
• Stress of culinary school caused illness
• Severe chronic pain
• Prescribed opiates but took cannabis instead to relieve pain
• The body metabolizes cannabis in a different way with food
• Cooking with cannabis made sense
• Making cannabis use accessible
• Increasingly being used by the older generation
• Less likely to be smokers
• The effects of a cannabis meal
• Choose your own strength
• Particpants inform Andrea of what they want to experience
• Tolerance
• Strength of high
• Andrea can infuse on site to strengthen the high
• Cannabis quality
• Purchased wholesale
• One grower
• Organic, outdoor grown
• High in THC
• Business during Covid
• More enquiries for private dining experiences
• Focussing on delivering at-home solutions to patrons
• Minorities and women in the industry
• Andrew Zimmern mentioned we have the opportunity to change how minorities and women have been treated so far in the industry
• Andrea creates equality in culture
• Focusses on uplifting black women
• Importance of good work environment
• Kitchens used to be hostile
• Chefs would throw things
• Andrea redefines her working kitchen
• Better working hours
• Friendly environment
• If you are not good to yourself,  you are not good for the kitchen
• Black Lives Matter
• Being apolitical is damaging to the movement
• Silence is impactful
• Encouraging non-black folks to listen and be open to hearing the truth
• The world is changing
• We all have a desire to be better
• We are still creating and learning during this time
• Success has no playbook
• Andrea is relatively new to culinary business
• Creating her own rules with intention
• Being true to oneself
• Reflecting during Covid
• Opportunity to be authentic and original when everything is quieter