Chef Hannah here. I’m gearing up to chef a women’s retreat at Ghost Ranch. It’s my second time cheffing at Ghost Ranch and I’m super excited. As a private chef, I love any opportunity to chef retreats. Retreats are different than private dining experiences for many reasons: I get to spend more time with guests which means it’s a more intimate experience, I travel to beautiful places (Sedona, Joshua Tree, and Abiquiu are my favorites so far!), and I have the privilege of supporting the embodied experience of participants. If food is low quality at a retreat, I believe the body expends more energy trying to digest the food and therefore has less energy available to digest the experience itself. (I guess the same is true of life, no?)

Anyways, I’m taking a quick break from packing up my beloved Staub & Le Creuset Dutch ovens to write this post. As I’ve been packing up my kitchen gear for this week’s retreat, I’ve been thinking how much easier it would be to just like, use the kitchen gear that’s already at the facility. (I think each of my 7.5-quart Dutch ovens weighs between fifteen and twenty pounds.) Unfortunately, having been a private chef for over a year and a half, here’s what I know: the pots and pans at any AirBnb, retreat facility, etc. are all low quality Teflon pans. And I just can’t.

To me, each and every step of sourcing and preparing food matters. If I’m going to drive to Santa Fe the day before the retreat just to source as many local ingredients as possible (which I am), then I’m not going to cook those beautiful ingredients in pots that are associated with carcinogenic toxins. (I’m going to buy my meat from Beck & Bulow (http://beckandbulow.com). I’m going to source as many local ingredients – as one can at this time of year – from La Montanita Coop (http://lamontanita.coop/). And the rest of my ingredients are coming from Natural Grocers.) Don’t get me wrong; I know we’re living in a toxic world and that being a human being means contributing to the toxicity.

That being said, I believe the choices we make matter. I love being a chef because I love nourishing people, and I know that I’m not doing the best job at nourishing people if I’m baking on aluminum foil and cooking with Teflon. So I don’t. I pack my heavy ass Dutch ovens and purchase clean parchment paper and make sure I’m not using Dawn detergent to run the dishwasher. (By the way, am I still buying things that come in plastic? I am and that’s part of the reality of the world we’re living in. Even local greens come in a plastic bag.)

I believe we do the best we can with what we have and at a certain point, that has to be enough. And the thing is, we know when we’re doing the best we can; it’s a feeling that softens us from the inside out. To me, embodying my intentions through my choices softens me and reminds me that even though our food system is flawed, I can make choices that I’m proud of. And shlepping my ridiculously heavy pots down to New Mexico is one such choice.

As a private chef, I bring intention to every part of the process. If you hire me to chef a retreat or curate an exceptional private dining experience, please know that your (highest quality) ingredients will be honored each step of the way. From sourcing to purchasing to preparing to cooking, Adventure through Food is and has always been philosophy first.

Cheers!