Food Diplomat Premiere

by danica drezner

This last week, Food Diplomat premiered after three years of foraging the ingredients, finding the right balance of flavor, and getting the temperature just right. 

As I sit here and reflect on the evolution of this project, I hear my mother in the back of my head. “To heal from an addiction, I believe you need to find your passion. You need to find something you can pour yourself into that helps you reach for something other than a temporary feeling. Alcohol, drugs, binge eating… These are all temporary fixes. But your passion is forever.”

This project began out of some subconscious need to break out of my negative relationship with food. I was in a very difficult place with my eating disorder and was desperate to heal. At the same time, I was trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do with my life after just quitting my job at a start-up company. What came out of this difficult time was Food Diplomat.

Food Diplomat is definitely a “finding passion through your pain” type project. I may have had an addiction to the control of food, but traveling and spending time with people always took me out of the obsessive loop. By studying abroad, I found the best place to explore my interest in human diplomacy was always at the dinner table.  

Sharing experiences over food has allowed me to see it as something to be celebrated and not feared. Over the last three years, I’ve learned the same is true for myself and the people I meet all over the world. With food as the centerpiece, we get the opportunity to tell our stories while feeling safe and supported. 

The journey to turn my passion into a vision and then craft that vision into a reality has been both challenging and rewarding. Yet the whole thing would not have been possible without all the people who were involved over the years. Each person who contributed their ideas has helped shape the evolution of Food Diplomat. Yet, in the end, the project shared with you today was crafted with the very first person who got involved in 2018: Angela Brittain. Although we both had to go on our individual journeys, we joined back forces earlier this year to finally capture the flavor I’ve been searching for.

This first episode was filmed with my dear friend, Jasmyn Crawford, who has played an important role in my life. I met Jasmyn while we were both working in a food media studio where she reminded me of the beauty of cooking and preparing a meal. She moves in the kitchen with a flow that is hypnotic; you can actually feel her tune into her roots as she prepares dishes that reflect her lineage. To Jasmyn, food is her revolution. Food is what she is able to carry on, innovate, and share in order to celebrate her past while cultivating her future.

So, without further ado, I present to you the first episode of Food Diplomat.

Please give us a follow on Instagram and subscribe to our Youtube page! This is the first out of many more episodes to come.