BY SHELBY TUTTLE
Pamela Anderson is selling pickles. The 58-year-old actress has teamed up with California lifestyle brand Flamingo Estate to create a limited-edition release of her beloved family pickle recipe. Dubbed Pamela’s Pickles, the crispy cukes are a spicy, floral twist on her Great Aunt Vie’s award-winning recipe, packed with dill, mustard, and garlic. The original recipe is refined with the addition of locally grown ingredients like regenerative Espelette pepper, pink peppercorn, guajillo chile, smoky sea salt, and Pamela’s personal touch, dried rose petals.
As the story goes, Pamela and her son Brandon met with Flamingo Estate founder Richard Christiansen and his partner Harvey over breakfast among the roses at Flamingo Estate earlier this year. When Pamela shared stories of her family’s long tradition of pickling at her home on Vancouver Island, the idea for Pamela’s Pickles was born.
“The hearts and brains behind Flamingo Estate are truly inspiring. What a delicious journey…and to meet at their glorious home – was a kindred becoming,” said Anderson.
“The care that goes into these grounds and into sincere collaborations is authentic.”
Settled in the 1940’s high atop the hills of Los Angeles, Flamingo Estate throughout its history has been a hedonistic enclave of sun-worship, folk mythologies, and psychedelic remedies. Now home to Christiansen, the iconic property is a celebration of all things nature, where ingredients from over 125 farms and collaborators are consciously sourced for a myriad of products — from luxury soaps and candles to gourmet honeys, olive oils, and vinegars. Christiansen’s goal is to get as close to the raw, natural material as possible, and to be able to trace each ingredient back to the farmer who planted it. This dedication to celebrating the natural world and conscious, ethical sourcing forms what some might label as a surprising partnership with Anderson.
If you’re only familiar with her roles as a bubbly blonde on Baywatch and Home Improvement, you’re missing out on the contributions of a complex, intelligent, and deeply caring individual. As an early teen, Anderson witnessed the hanging body of a bloodied deer her father brought home from a hunting trip and immediately became a vegetarian — she’s now been vegan for over two decades. Anderson is also a passionate advocate for animal rights and has served in various campaigns for PETA and other like-minded organizations.
Her roles as an actress have also evolved and include a limited run on Broadway in 2022 as Roxie Hart in Chicago, as well as a Golden Globe and SAG award- nominated lead role in 2024’s The Last Showgirl. She appeared opposite Liam Neeson in this summer’s reboot of The Naked Gun and has a variety of projects slated for release in the coming months.
Her self-penned autobiography, Love, Pamela, won critical acclaim from the New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, and her 2024 debut vegan cookbook, I Love You: Recipes From the Heart was a finalist for a James Beard Award. Both books are New York Times best sellers.
In February, Anderson released her own cooking show on Canada’s Flavour Network, in which she prepares beautifully crafted plant-based meals at her home on Vancouver Island with some of the world’s most sought-after chefs.
“It was such a wonderful surprise to discover another facet of Pamela. She’s a remarkable chef, gardener, and activist. She has big green thumbs and the most wonderful perspective on life of anyone I’ve met. It has been a joy to get to know her, and these pickles are a souvenir of a very happy time together,” said Christiansen.
Proceeds from the sale of the first batch of Pamela’s Pickles were donated to the California Wildlife Center, a nonprofit wildlife veterinary hospital providing life- saving care to over 4,000 injured, orphaned, or sick wild animals each year.
According to Matthew Schmidt, communications and VIP manager at Flamingo Estate, proceeds from the latest batch are being donated to Return to Freedom, a wild horse conservation organization focused on the preservation of wild horses and burros since 1997.
If you’re jonesing to try Anderson’s limited- edition collab with Flamingo Estate, do it soon. Anderson’s initial release, which included several thousand jars, sold out in just two weeks. Schmidt notes that the company doesn’t have current plans to produce another batch of the current recipe at this time, but that they are “working on something special with Pamela for the holidays.” Pamela’s Pickles are available exclusively at www.flamingoestate.com.
