Mama Jean, a Melrose business with sustainability practices
Let’s meet Jessica Drench, personal chef and owner of Mama Jean, a Melrose-based whole-food home bakery. In Zero Waste Melrose’s meet-ups with local businesses that have sustainability practices at their core, we talk (no) trash.
Jess, the trained chef and inspired foodie behind Mama Jean, cooks up tasty, seasonal treats that cater to special diets, runs a personal chef business, and conducts cooking classes for individuals and groups. Jess’s commitment to sustainability is something that comes naturally and that she grew up with. She says it’s definitely a mindset and that anyone can develop it, even if you don’t have the mindset now.
Jess’s mom Tanya, an immigrant who was born in a refugee camp, was mindful of food waste. Asking “What can I make with this?”, Jess’s mom was always devising new dishes to put all food to good use. Flash forward to today with Jess getting creative with her pantry and donating any leftover baked goods to local food rescue nonprofits, such as The Food Drive. She sources from local farmers and producers and sells to our local communities through farmer’s markets and local stores. Local keeps it sustainable – less emissions to transport ingredients and products, more community engagement and relationships.
The foremost sustainable action that Jess takes with Mama Jean is with packaging. She avoids single-use plastic wherever possible, seeking out alternatives (for example, while disposable gloves are a must in a professional kitchen, she sources a non-toxic, recyclable variety). Compostable packaging is essential. Jess lamented, “I just couldn’t put my cookies, which are made with organic, high-quality ingredients, into plastic.” Although compostable packaging is more expensive and delicate, as well as harder to source, Jess knows that her products merit the right wrapping. Healthy food wrapped in a harmful plastic bag didn’t make sense, so having a compostable wrapper is a must. We know from scientific studies that plastic leaches into our food and the ecosystem – it doesn’t disappear when we toss it away.
Speaking of composting, in Jess’s kitchen and her cooking classes, all organic waste is composted – including kitchen scraps and compostable parchment paper made from 100% wood pulp. What goodness came from the earth goes back into the earth to create goodness again. When organic waste – think apple cores, potato peels, and wilted lettuce leaves – goes into the landfill, where it cannot decompose naturally, it creates methane, a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Jess asks herself some telling questions, “How can I have the smallest footprint and maintain the integrity and quality of the food? Where does the food come from? How can I help nourish the community from my kitchen?” The answers are even more telling, guiding Jess’s approach to all that is Mama Jean. “We are all connected, and people can feel that in my food. I put love into the food I make.”
Mama Jean goodies can be purchased at the Melrose Farmers’ Market and the Union Square Farmers Market in Somerville. She also sells her “Green Street Cookies” (naturally gluten-free and vegan) at Green Street Natural Food. Connect with Jess with interest in her baked goods, classes at The Kitchen, or chef service by emailing her at info@mamajeangoodness.com. You can also learn more on Mama Jean’s website, or by following Mama Jean on Instagram or Facebook.
Cover photo and photo of Jess by Brian Samuels Photography
