In April 2019, we teamed up with Healthyish, a site from Bon Appétit about feel-good food and living, and Broccoli Magazine, an international magazine for cannabis lovers, to host a Los Angeles breakfast with Chef Minh Phan of Porridge + Puffs and a panel of women working at the intersection of cannabis and food.
Fifty women from across Los Angeles and from a range of industries - from fashion to journalism to design to public policy to culinary arts - joined us at Porridge + Puffs, a modern California restaurant and community space that explores artisanal grains and seasonal produce, encompassing a vision that’s bold yet nuanced and delicate.
We hosted breakfast in collaboration with Chef Minh Phan, a proud Angeleno who has been cooking professionally for almost two decades. Starting out in NYC fine dining, she moved back to her beloved city to work in some of its earliest farm-to-table institutions including Axe and Inn at the Seventh Ray. In recent years, she’s been at the helm at Beachwood, the former modern fine dining restaurant Gaji, her own Field Trip, cooking in Copenhagen, and now back at Porridge + Puffs which started out as a pop-up project. The pop-up project with its reflective and straightforward name was never intended to be a restaurant but a mere exploration, but we all know what happens once Jonathan Gold walks in and changes that trajectory.
Chef Minh Phan treated us to some of her favorite dishes, teaching us about their ingredients and preparation: savory scones with gochujang infused dark greens, Armenian braided cheese, nigella seeds; breakfast slaw with cabbage, citrus, herbs, peanuts and sesame (vegan); and made to order Yakimiso porridge: negi porridge with grilled miso, spicy black bean roasted chayote, numbing spice braised sausage (optional), rose-geranium pickled red onions, pea sprouts.
We spoke with five women in the cannabis industry, learning about the inspiration for their work and discussing the intersection of food and cannabis culture.
Broccoli Magazine Editor, Anja Charbonneau, moderated a heartfelt and thought-provoking conversation with our speakers:
Anja Charbonneau is the founder of Broccoli, the international magazine for cannabis lovers. Created by women who love weed, Broccoli presents a new perspective on cannabis culture. Playful, informed, eclectic, and thoughtful, it encourages the discovery and intelligent appreciation of cannabis through explorations of art, culture, and fashion.
Andrea Drummer has been cooking up cannabis-infused cuisine for cancer patients, veterans with PTSD, and folks coping with anxiety or depression for the past five years. Andrea is a thriving, world class chef and co-owner of Elevation VIP Co-op, an LA based caterer that hosts fancy intimate dinners. But years before her weedpiphany (yep, we’re calling it that), Andrea was an anti-drug counselor who was raised in a Southern Baptist home in Fort Lauderdale. Because she thought marijuana was a gateway drug, she'd preach to teens to stay away from it.
Christine Yi is the co-founder of Potli, the premium purveyor for the modern, CBD-enhanced kitchen pantry. Potli is obsessed with creating the highest quality, ingredients-oriented edibles products to offer healthier, more versatile delivery methods to empower users to harness plant based medicine exactly the way they want. Christine is a strategist at heart and a self-diagnosed wellness junkie, with a professional background in management consulting and growth strategy. She co-founded Potli in 2017 alongside her best friend Felicity Chen as a meaningful entry point for both beginning and experienced cannabis users alike. Today, their products are sold in California dispensaries, CBD retailers throughout the US, and online.
Imelda Walavalkar is the CEO and co-founder of Pure Beauty, an environmentally progressive and art-loving cannabis brand based in Los Angeles. Pure Beauty currently sells speciality, high end indoor cannabis flower throughout California dispensaries with plans for expansion to the east coast in the works. Imelda previously owned and operated a catering company in NYC that focused on eclectic and sustainably-sourced menus. She loves thinking and talking about weed and food, both separately and together.
Elizabeth Ashford is among California’s most experienced and respected public affairs professionals, with over a decade of experience helping clients identify, shape and execute smart strategies to move audience perceptions and impact policymaking. As Senior Director for Corporate Communications at Eaze, Elizabeth drives media relations and communications strategy for the country's fastest-growing cannabis technology company. Previously, Elizabeth held the position of senior director for global communications at Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), where she successfully launched their film/television, consumer products, and esports divisions. Elizabeth spent seven years at the highest levels of California state government as Attorney General Kamala Harris’ Chief of Staff, Gov. Jerry Brown’s Chief Deputy Press Secretary, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Chief Deputy for Cabinet and Communications. She is an appointed member of the California Highway Patrol's Task Force on Impaired Driving, and a founding member of the Los Angeles Cannabis Task Force. Between 2009 - 2011, Elizabeth was based in London,, counseling Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 businesses as Chief of Staff at the financial PR firm Brunswick Group. She holds a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a master’s degree from Columbia University.
We teamed up with women-founded partners in the cannabis space to explore the variety of products being produced: Sweet Reason, CBD-infused sparkling water made to help you slow down, relax, and pursue a life well-lived; Vertly, handcrafted CBD-infused clean skincare; GO BASIC, CBD edibles; and Potli, the premium purveyor for the modern, CBD-enhanced kitchen pantry.
The breakfast coincided with Healthyish’s launch of a their Women in Cannabis collaboration with Broccoli:
Healthyish Editor, Amanda Shapiro, who joined us for breakfast in Los Angeles on Monday morning, writes, “This guide, which we put together along with our friends at Broccoli, is meant to ease you into the world of cannabis and food with everything you need to get started: simple advice (finally, a super-straightforward way to infuse butter), hyper-specific recommendations (the CBD salt we're sprinkling on everything), truly delicious recipes (duh!), and some Ethics 101 to help you buy weed you can feel good about...while it makes you feel good too!”
This breakfast was part of a two-part Women in Cannabis series. On May 8, we’re teaming up with Healthyish and Broccoli Magazine again to host a NYC breakfast with Chef Kyo Pang and Moonlynn Tsai of Kopitiam and a panel of women working at the intersection of cannabis and food. Details here!
From left to right: Aliza Arabanal (Assistant Editor of Healthyish/Bon Appétit), Hallie Applebaum (Founder, Future of Women), Imelda Walavalkar (CEO and co-founder of Pure Beauty), Christine Yi (co-founder of Potli), Chef Andrea Drummer, Anja Charbonneau (Founder of Broccoli), Elizabeth Ashford (Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Eaze), Amanda Shapiro (Editor of Healthyish/Bon Appétit).
FUTURE OF WOMEN is a unifying platform that creates original multimedia content and programming by, for, and about women around the world to openly look at the pursuit of being a modern woman. In 2018, we began collaborating with award-winning female chefs worldwide, from Los Angeles to Mexico City to Tel Aviv to Tokyo, to host a monthly women's breakfast series featuring game-changing women such as Olympic athletes, Emmy-winning producers, top Billboard musicians, and New York Times journalists on topics including architecture, sports, art, music, journalism, and human rights.
A Special Thank You To Our Co-Hosts
and partners
and Chef Minh Phan for a delicious breakfast, our moderator and panelists, and our photographer Alex Gomez for these beautiful photographs.
Join the conversation at @futureofwomen
