Christine is a cannabis chef and founder of UCannaCooks, a custom cannabis catering company located in Washington State. UCannaCooks brings creativity and enthusiasm to the cannabis industry with a variety of fresh delicious cannabis infused meals for people who want to enjoy a better quality of life.
Christine graduated from the University of Hawaii with a Culinary Arts degree. She recently got certified as a Certified Interpener of Cannabis by the Trichomb Institute.
How did you get into cooking?
I have always enjoyed cooking & baking from a very young age. I watched my mother and grandmother cook and found great comfort watching and learning from them. My love of cooking started in elementary school with friends making menus from images and recipes that we saw in magazines and cook books.
In 2000, I moved to Spokane, Washington and began working for university food service at Gonzaga. I started out as a cook and within six months was promoted to the catering chef position. I worked with the same food service company for the last 16 years. I’ve had several positions within the company; however, none of them made me more proud than being the Executive Chef for the Jesuit community at Gonzaga. I ended my career recently from university food service and took a leap of faith to pursue a cannabis chef career.
What steps did you take to become a cannabis chef?
The transformation to become a cannabis chef took some time. It started when I got a prescription from my doctor to use cannabis as a pain and inflammation medication for degenerative disk disease. I realized smoking cannabis probably wasn’t the healthiest way to consume the medication. I began learning about the different ways you can infuse cannabis into food. Naturally, as a professional chef, it allowed me to use my education and cooking skills to infuse cannabis in appetizers, entrees, side dishes, desserts and beverages.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
“Never, never, never, give up!” This is a quote by Winston Churchill.
Any advice to aspiring chefs?
My advice to aspiring cannabis chefs is to know the product and learn as much as you can about cannabis and the different concentrates. Update your knowledge daily. There are new exciting ways of infusing cannabis into food that is popping up constantly.
Keep pushing the envelope
Where do you see yourself in the future?
I see myself with my own location- a professional kitchen licensed by the state to serve made-to-order cannabis food. The food I serve can help people that need a way to ingest their medication other than smoking it since not every medical patient wants to smoke cannabis or eat sweets. I hope to create jobs to help my community, and of course, become an inspiration to other aspiring cannabis chefs.
Feast for The Senses: Ellipsis Elevated Evening and Cannaisseur Pop Up Dinner
