ARVADA, Colo. — While walking in the garden of her home, chef Andrea Condes points out the plants she loves to cook with the most, namely fruits and vegetables native to the American continent.

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

Chef Condes grows and cooks with local ingredients to understand his heritage and share it with others.

Drew Smith, Denver7

Their ancestors are from the Andes Mountains in South America. But he was adopted from a Venezuelan orphanage as a baby and grew up in the midwestern United States.

“I haven’t seen a lot of South American representation,” Condes said. As a professionally trained chef, he set out to learn and share as much as possible about the ingredients and techniques of his Indigenous roots.

“I discovered a lot about myself,” Condes said. “This was a very personal journey for me and turned into a business plan.”

Condes runs from his home in Arvada Four Directions Cuisinea small business he uses to share food and education.

Four Direction takes its name from the Chakana cross, an Andean symbol that dates back to pre-Incan societies.

Drew Smith, Denver7

“It represents many things. Real directions; north, south, east, west,” Condes said. “But it also symbolizes morality.”

“As indigenous peoples, we have a relationship with the natural world,” Condes said. “This is a completely cyclical relationship and it covers everything.”

The belief is that if we take care of the soil, the land will take care of us, providing food and medicine.

That’s why Condes grows most of the ingredients she cooks in her own garden or sources food from local and indigenous sources.

Drew Smith, Denver7

She hopes that introducing others to Indigenous foods will encourage respect for the land and lead to a deeper understanding of what it means to eat locally.

Many of the foods we enjoy, such as beans, squash, potatoes and tomatoes, are native to the Americas. And for Condes, it was corn that started his fascination with Native cuisine.

“This is one of the most important crops,” he said. For many tribes, creation stories revolve around the “Mother Corn” who generously sacrificed herself to nourish others.

She uses blue and yellow cornmeal produced by the Ute Mountain Ute tribe to bake soft, cakey, and complex-tasting cookies. Condes will begin taking orders through her website in December for blue corn, pumpkin spice and cocoa cookie packages.

Drew Smith, Denver7

“I enjoy working with food, creating things, and nourishing people in many ways—heart, body, soul,” she said.

That’s why, in addition to education and healing, Four Directions offers many ways for the community to enjoy cooking.

Condes and her partner, Alejandra Tobar Alatriz, are also taking a weekend vacation in Pueblo. Ancestral Harmony. They will provide food and meditation from a historic home. The goal is “to explore both ancient traditions and modern approaches to healthy living.”

And for Condes, there’s a lot to learn “by learning from the plants themselves.”

In his garden, various plants grow side by side through companion planting. Marigolds keep insects away from juicy tomatoes. Cayenne pepper, basil and sage deter animals from eating berries. He also grows some “sacrificial plants” for wildlife to eat.

Condes hopes his approach to growing and sharing Indigenous food will inspire others.

“Everyone has an Indigenous culture from their homeland. It’s just a matter of learning what it is, interacting with it, learning it, and seeing the connections we all have and share. “And one of the biggest needs in this context is food,” he said.

Indigenous chef uses local ingredients to connect with his culture and share it with others