By Intention
With my daughter’s tiny body strapped to my chest, I talked and walked with Juli and Juan through a muddy park.
Under denuded April trees that let the sun come through, I told them how my husband and I had made Imogen’s first birthday cake together the day before: lemon with blackcurrant filling and decorated with fresh blueberries, her favorite food. I told them how, with each ingredient, we remembered some new “first” that had taken place in the last 12 months. I told them how each stir of the spoon spun the bowl like a prayer wheel, blessing Imogen over and over again. I told them how much love I put into every movement of making my first child’s first birthday cake. Juliana and Juan, with whom this idea of intentionality and collaborative creation is tantamount, nodded knowingly. They could relate.
Juliana Trujillo Escobar, Chef and Food Artist, and Juan Andres Rodrigues Palazuelos, Art Director and Sous Chef, of Juli y Juan’s Kitchen in Fort Collins finish each other’s sentences with uncanny grace and precision. Juliana’s signature headscarf halos her face in sunshiny colors, and her lilting Colombian accent somehow makes her seem more like Ellie Kemper as Kimmy Schmidt than less. Juan’s eyes sparkle when he talks about growing up in Baja and eating wild pomegranates on his family’s ranch, but darken almost imperceptibly when he talks about moving to the baffling metropolis of Mexico City at age 11. While we talked about the evolution of Juliana and Juan from friends to business partners to a married couple, the idea of intention in collaboration came up again and again.
Both Juli and Juan have the simple command, “Think. Feel. Act.” tattooed on their forearm. This directive informs their particular style of collaboration as they create menus, experiment with new flavors, and design culinary experiences as opposite as wood-fired picnics and black-tie weddings. “It always starts with a feeling,” Juli gushed. First, they think about the ingredient — its colors, smell, texture, associations, season, and culture. Spending time with the kitchen and ingredients, like a painter organizing their studio and carefully arranging the paint on the palette, frames the creative process. Once they start a creative a dish or menu, Juli does most of the cooking, while Juan brings his background in design and marketing to plating and presentation, as well as working as her sous chef. “But we’re always discussing together as we go,” Juan said.
Not by mistake, “Act” is the last word of their mantra. Once the thoughts and emotions are explored together, only then do they truly feel ready to put intention into action. In the 1992 Mexican film Like Water for Chocolate, true to magical-realist fashion, Tita’s tears and longing can be tasted in the sauce she makes with the roses given to her by Pedro, her secret lover. Similarly, whether it be the seasoning of a piece of meat, the herbs used for a salad dressing, or the juxtaposition of colors on the plate, both Juli and Juan believe with wonder and conviction that the intention put into culinary creations can be felt, tasted, and experienced by the eater.
“The modern artist is expressing his feelings rather than illustrating,”
I’m reminded of standing in front of Jackson Pollock’s notoriously splattered “No. 1 (Lavender Mist)” at the National Gallery. I never got what the big deal was with Pollock’s drip paintings when I saw them on the overhead projector screen in art history class, but standing under the mural-sized canvas, I saw the hand of the artist; I saw the intention of each moment in space and time he created with the thick, industrial paint. Pollock said “The modern artist is expressing his feelings rather than illustrating,” and I think that Juli and Juan are doing something similar with food. They are expressing with food rather than just preparing it to be eaten, and therein lies the art. Eating the tostadas they made at a street food pop-up yesterday, I could taste the signature Juli and Juan warmth in the spicy salsa.
What is expressed through this medium? Oh, so many things. Juli, Juan, and I talked for hours about intentionality, health, the environment, their personal journeys, Shamanism, magical thinking, and what it means to “live the good life.” To them, food can express love, memory, wonder, or nostalgia. Putting intention into food is part of their collaborative effort, but agreeing on the intention comes from a common history and philosophy. Despite the fact that they did not meet each other until a few years ago while working in Playa del Carmen together, both Juli and Juan wanted to be doctors when they were in school. Juan pursued medicine for longer than Juli, who found her love of cooking early, graduated at the top of her cooking school class in Mexico City, and worked as Executive Chef at the Mexican embassy in D.C. for a time.
Both of them grew up on ranch land, Juli in Colombia and Juan in Baja, and were messy-haired children in love with the outdoors and full of imaginary games. From their histories, Juli and Juan share a passion for preserving our Earth’s natural resources by using no disposable plastics at their catered events. Juli spent 13 years eating meatless and so brings with her a talent for plant-based cooking, as well as respect for the animals who gave their lives to feed us. They agree on eating seasonally and that food can foster health of body and soul equally. Finally, their love for each other, what they do, and the Earth and her inhabitants is their secret ingredient.
Juli y Juan’s Kitchen has one special collaborator in John E. Hunt, filmmaker at Arcadian Pictures www.arcadianpictures.com. Check out some of his gorgeous food cinematography on their site: www.juliyjuan.com You’ll also find information on their “Get up and Get Out” special site-specific dining events. Always outdoors in an exotic location, you can taste Juli and Juan’s fresh, local, seasonal food and have a unique culinary experience.
