Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Edurne Garcia-Andre

Edurne was born and raised in the small colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, located in central Mexico. She studied History and Development of Prehispanic Foods and Ingredients, as well as Basic and Advanced Techniques of French cooking in Mexico City. She married a U.S. Diplomat in 1986 and lived in Southern Mexico and Guatemala, before arriving to live in Vancouver in 1989.

Edurne studied Travel and Hospitality Administration before giving birth to her two daughters. In 1992 her husband was called to serve overseas again and left to Argentina, where she volunteered for various charity causes. She also worked for the U.S. Travel Office from the Commercial Section, where she promoted travel to the U.S., and started a small Catering business. After four years in Argentina, she moved to Bermuda, where she worked full time in a very large Travel Agency as the Quality Control Agent as well as a Corporate Agent, but her passion for food drove her to give demonstrations of Mexican cooking for charity. In 2000 she then moved to Northern Mexico where she worked as a volunteer as President Fundraiser for a Children’s Hospital, giving private cooking classes. In 2004 she moved to Vienna, Austria, where she worked for the U.S. Embassy as an Administrative Assistant for the Office of Nuclear Terrorism and Export Control, but continued to cater small parties and give cooking classes at the Ambassador’s Residence for charity, as well as manage and cook for the U.S. booth of the United Nations Women’s Guild Charity Event, where we served food for the largest international Food Fair.

In 2008 she finally moved back to Vancouver, and in 2009 started teaching for Clark College Cooking and Wine School, becoming Assistant for the Cooking and Wine School from Clark in 2010. Edurne is now an Instructor for both Clark College and Portland Community College Continuing Education Programs as well as having private cooking classes.

Edurne’s culinary background is influenced by her native country of Mexico, and by her mother’s basque heritage, but she also has influences from all the countries she has lived in.