Meet internationally renowned Indigenous food Chef Loretta Oden

Chef Loretta Oden’s first memory of cooking was standing on a chair at the kitchen table with an apron tied under her arms, using a rolling pin to crush saltine crackers between pieces of wax paper. She was making the filling for salmon croquettes. Surrounded by her mother, aunties, grandmas and great-grandmas, Oden’s childhood kitchen in Shawnee, Okla., holds infinite fond memories.

“The kitchen was where we gathered; it was a joyous place full of laughing and singing,” recalls Oden, now 81.

Another happy childhood spot was her mother’s garden. Oden says her mom could make anything grow, from tomatoes and strawberries to corn, beans and squash, known as the Three Sisters in many Indigenous cultures.

“My mom had a garden for all her life, and now I’ve had a garden for most of my life because there’s a special feeling of getting your hands and feet in the warm earth and watching something grow,” said Oden.

A member of Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oden didn’t grow up traditionally Native in all respects, but she says the undercurrent of her heritage was embedded in her psyche, through cooking, gardening and foraging practices as well as attending powwows. Oden also notes that she grew up in two different worlds, with her mom’s family being Potawatomi and her white dad’s mother being a Mayflower descendant. The two families didn’t often mix, but both sides sought to protect her from racism against Indigenous people.

It wasn’t until Oden was an adult, having raised two sons of her own, that she left Oklahoma to travel and experience cuisines around the world, with an eye for Indigenous foods. Those experiences led Oden and eldest son, Clay, to open the Corn Dance Café in Santa Fe, N.M., in 1993, the popularity of which would propel her fame as a Native chef. She has been featured on numerous national television shows and publications and she hosted Emmy Award–winning PBS series Seasoned With Spirit: A Native Cook’s Journey.

Grandchildren drew Oden back to Oklahoma, where she now serves as chef consultant for Thirty Nine Restaurant at First Americans Museum and oversees Chef Loretta’s Garden. The garden is supported by Shape Your Future, a program of TSET, and is open to the public for free. It’s also where children attend FAMcamps to learn about gardening. (Don’t miss QR codes throughout the garden where guests can access Chef Loretta’s recipes!) Oden recently released her book Corn Dance: Inspired First American Cuisine featuring recipes that combine her Oklahoma upbringing and Native heritage.

We caught up with Oden to learn more about how she’s using her experiences to inspire the next generation — and having a lot of fun along the way.

What inspired you to focus your career on First American cuisine?

My life changed when I left Oklahoma and started traveling and exploring new places. I started meeting other Native women and seeing how different [their] food was — and not just the food but the customs and song and dance — just as diverse as the people. I have eaten really great food all over the world, but it dawned on me that while you can go to any city and find Mongolian barbecue, French food and every other kind of food, you don’t see many references to First American food.

That sparked a thought that I would open a Native food restaurant. My eldest son, Clay, and I opened the Corn Dance Café in Santa Fe in 1993 and it took off. It was the right place at the right time. And that just spurred my all-consuming passion to learn more about Native and Indigenous foods — pre-contact or pre-Columbian foods. I wanted to know: what did they hunt and grow throughout the Americas? I learn something new every day.

What do you most enjoy about working with kids in Chef Loretta’s Garden at FAMcamp, and what lessons do you hope to impart to them?

I love the curiosity and wonder in kids’ eyes when they see and learn new things. Now, you have to do this subliminally — you can’t let them know it’s good for them! A lot of it is about playing in the dirt — I always garden with bare hands because I like to feel the earth.

I try to plant some things that are fast growing — like radishes — because kids can see them grow and then harvest and taste them. Last year, we shucked corn and the kids ate raw corn, made bundles of corn silk to make corn silk tea and they took home husks to make tamales or corn husk dolls. This year, we’ll be painting with ears of corn or corn cobs and making plant dyes with smushed-up berries. We get messy, we have fun and we taste all along the way.

I enjoy showing them that food nourishes our bodies, but it also nourishes our hearts and our souls. I think I have more fun than the kids!

What is your current favorite dish to prepare?

My go-to is something involving the Three Sisters [corn, beans and squash]. When they are planted, grown, harvested and eaten together, they provide the perfect protein and amino acids — you could live off of it! I make a Three Sisters stew with blue corn dumplings and a Three Sisters salad with all kinds of greens. But my favorite dish hearkens back to my Okie roots and is named after my son Clay, who passed away and was a brilliant, creative chef. Clay’s Buffaloaf uses buffalo meat and quinoa instead of panko for the binder. It’s good fresh out of the oven, but my favorite is a cold meatloaf sandwich the next day.

What has it meant to you to serve as an ambassador and re-vitalizor of First American cuisine?

I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and when I began, there were no representations of Native foods anywhere. For so many years, it was cyclical. I would come back in vogue every 10 years, always at Thanksgiving, and be on the Today Show. I’d tell about the real Thanksgiving — I do love to get out there and stir the pot.

But now it’s happening! I have worked with and mentored and cooked alongside young chefs all over the country. We’re getting Beard awards and young chefs are opening new restaurants. This is one of my great joys.

Experience Indigenous cuisine at Thirty Nine restaurant at First Americans Museum, open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plus, meet more inspirational First Americans and learn about the 39 Tribal Nations in Oklahoma by visiting the exhibits at First Americans Museum. The museum is open Wednesday through Monday. The third Sunday of each month is free for kids 12 and under. Learn more about the museum, restaurant and kids programming like FAMcamps at famok.org.

Get Growing!

Create your own garden at home with Chef Loretta Oden’s tips:

1. Start very small with a container garden. Get a metal trough at a feed store, layer rocks in the bottom, then add a layer of sand and then good soil. (Or you can start even smaller with a single tomato plant or pepper plant in a pot.)
2. Plant corns, beans and squash — the Three Sisters!
3. Add herbs like basil, oregano and chives.
4. Plant edible flowers, like marigolds. You can pull the petals off and sprinkle them on a salad. They have a great peppery taste.

Editor’s note: This article is the first in a series produced in conjunction with First Americans Museum to share the stories of inspirational modern-day and historical First Americans. Find the full series at metrofamilymagazine.com/inspirational-first-americans.