About Eduardo
LIVING TO THRIVE
A life of passion and purpose
Eduardo believes both food and human connection are elemental — and vehicles to greater meaning. Offering his life’s stories and experiences as vivid examples, Eduardo Garcia helps us see the best in ourselves.
Through a variety of creative mediums — including food, film, speaking, and experiential activations — Eduardo Garcia helps people expand their sense of possibility and realize their potential.
WHAT I DO, WHO I AM — IT ALL TIES INTO FOOD. FOOD IS ELEMENTAL. IT'S LIKE AIR, WATER, SHELTER. WITH LUCK, AND HARD WORK, WE MAY GET TO EAT FOOD EVERY DAY — AND HOPEFULLY, TO ENJOY IT. TO SAVOR IT. I'VE COME TO UNDERSTAND AND RESPECT FOOD AS A POWERFUL FORCE THAT CONNECTS US TO EACH OTHER, OUR ENVIRONMENT, AND TO OURSELVES.
About Eduardo
BEGINNINGS
Eduardo Garcia — along with his twin brother — entered this world a month and a half premature, already hungry to begin living life.
Raised in a rural community in Paradise Valley, Montana, on the northern border of Yellowstone National Park, Eduardo learned from a young age the importance of empathy for others and involvement in working towards a collective good. He also developed a natural affinity for the freedom and personal agency to be found in exploring the outdoors.
At the age of 15, Eduardo got his first job cooking at Chico Hot Springs, following the desire to help take care of his family — as well as the lure of self-sufficiency in the form of a fly rod and a car. The kitchen's energy, with its experiential, creative, and collaborative spirit, drew him in. And this teenager, often labeled a troublemaker who would never amount to anything, had a paradigm shift: through cooking, he could contribute value to the experiences of those around him. He had value. And he saw a path with purpose.
WAYPOINTS
After graduating high school, Eduardo attended culinary school at the Art Institute of Seattle. He threw himself into the program while working incredibly long hours in the city's fast-paced kitchens. Eduardo then took a job as the chef on a private yacht and spent the next 11 years traveling the world, working as a chef in the yachting industry.
Eduardo fueled his curiosity at every new port, discovering the art of working with the available local ingredients to create meals perfect for his clients' day-to-day wants, sentiments, and appetites. Food became far more than just a product to serve or a paycheck to collect — from essence to preparation, it had the potential to affect people in a profound and beautiful way. "A meal is more than just what we eat but an integral part of what builds culture and brings people together," he says.
Returning to Montana in 2011, Eduardo regrounded himself in the slower, more connected pace of his home. Combining his love for nature and wild landscapes with his passion and talent for cooking (and connecting), he cofounded Montana Mex with his siblings and then-partner, and his outdoor cooking show Active Ingredient was on the verge of getting picked up by network tv.
THE CRUX
On October, 9th, 2011, time stopped.
While bowhunting in the woods, Eduardo came across the remains of a dead bear in a metal can. As he used his knife to retrieve a claw, he was immediately electrocuted by 2400 volts of electricity from an unmarked, buried line connected to the can. He was knocked unconscious. After coming to and realizing that he was not only alive, but in grave danger, he managed to get himself to his feet and hiked the three miles out of the mountains and back to help.
Eduardo was life-flighted to Salt Lake City, where he had to have part of his left arm amputated, along with significant portions of the rest of his body. This was the start of a long, hard recovery — the combination of Eduardo's persistent courage, a rockstar medical team, and 24/7 support from his then partner and his family, were enough to ensure that both his body and his indomitable spirit endured. The experience was documented in the feature length documentary “Charged,” which follows his journey of survival, healing, and new life.
The ordeal may have left physical scars, but Eduardo was able to alchemize the inner struggles into a deeper passion for life, and gratitude for the present moment and future potential.
Most of all, he carries forward an insatiable joy for doing what he loves and encouraging others to do the same. He cooks, explores the outdoors, and brings people together to enjoy it all.
Eduardo has been forged by his experiences — the positive and the negative — yet the legacy he forges is a testament to his mindset. His north star is creating connection to what matters. Seeking out the realness and the marrow of life. Leaning into the expansiveness of possibility. Making time for play. Living with the highest personal integrity. And most importantly, doing it with love.
"Food for me has been an accrued, experiential relationship — what I like to eat, to cook, and to cook for others is married to both place and time. It always has been. Pantry plus purpose — what do we have to work with, and what is the significance of the meal?”
Food Philosophy
"Grocery stores are purposeful and necessary, but food does not sing in a grocery store. Food in a store is dormant, waiting for human activation. So what I am most passionate about is food that has the shortest journey and strongest connections between source, me, and you.
Today, I'm looking for more ways to combine my two lifelong passions — food, and the outdoors. That drives my desire to consume and produce in a way that's as low impact and intentional as possible.
I want to have a relationship with my food — the source of it, what feeds and waters it, how we harvest it, how it's prepared, and then who eats it, how it makes them feel. Whether it's foraged, hunted, fished, grown, harvested, found, or purchased, food is part of a cycle, just like us. There's all this potential energy wrapped up in it that's bigger than calories. And the more connected we can be to what we're eating, the better we can utilize that energy, carrying it forward into our lives, and our impact."
