Today I live and work in Roslindale, one of Boston’s many diverse neighborhoods — just 65 miles from Portsmouth, N.H., where I was raised. As in Wisconsin, I find much here that inspires me to connect through food.

Through advocacy, networking, consulting, and hands-on culinary support, I work to encourage farmers, home cooks, and food professionals to cook creatively with local foods throughout the year.

A member of the 1960s–’70s back-to-the-land movement, I got an early start at cooking local and indigenous foods during my high school years on a sustenance farm in New England. When I moved to Wisconsin and opened L’Etoile in 1976, I was inspired by nearby farmers and supported in countless ways by my colleagues. Our combined efforts helped spark a local food movement and the growth of a vibrant regionally reliant food systems in Southwest Wisconsin.

In 2005, I sold L’Etoile to my then chef de cuisine, Tory Miller, and his sister and business partner, Traci Miller. They have since relocated their L’Etoile and added a lively gastropub, Graze. Tory and his team continue to build upon L’Etoile’s original roster of farmers and artisans to create a delicious regionally sourced cuisine.

Biography and Archived CV

Chef Odessa Piper began a lifetime of culinary inspiration through her family’s gardening and foraging traditions. After high school, she moved to a farm commune and learned to grow and preserve subsistence crops in the root cellar of their wood-heated farmhouse. In 1970, Odessa migrated to Wisconsin’s Kickapoo River Valley, joining others drawn to one of the Midwest’s first organic farms. Continuing her education in regional agriculture, she picked apples, grazed sheep, milked cows and goats, and tended a large vegetable garden. In 1972, Odessa moved to Madison, Wis., to help open the Ovens of Brittany, a restaurant that served food grown on the group’s farm. From 1972–1975, Odessa developed a line of popular baked goods for the Ovens of Brittany, including the original “Morning Bun,” now found in cafes around the country.

In 1976, Odessa opened her own restaurant, L’Etoile, on Madison’s capital square. At a time when there was no local supply infrastructure, Odessa drew on her early experiences to cultivate a network of local organic farms and artisans to supply her restaurant. She acknowledged their role by naming and locating them on her menu, and encouraged farmers to build their brands, pool their efforts, and diversify their markets with organic products, winter vegetables from solar hoop houses, and pasture-grazed meats.

In the ’90s, L’Etoile’s cuisine evolved to rely primarily upon regional sources throughout the year. Artisanal cheeses, cured meats, and ferments with a local voice found a home on L’Etoile’s menus. The after-dinner cheese selections from the Midwest grew so numerous they required a separate menu to describe each evening’s offerings.

Odessa was named the James Beard Foundation Best Chef Midwest–2002. In recognition of her contribution to the region’s artisanal and sustainable agriculture, the University of Wisconsin–Madison awarded Odessa an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 2006.

In 2005, Odessa sold L’Etoile, and in 2010, moved back to New England.

Odessa often accompanies her husband, Terry Theise, a wine importer and author, to wine regions of Northern Europe. The parallels she finds between wine culture and artisanal foods are the subject of her current writing project. Odessa is also distilling her culinary ideas in presentations and publications for the next generation of cooks, artisans, and farmers. In 2013, she wrote and published The Market Kitchen, a small cookbook of seasonal recipes for the home cook.

Publications

The Market Kitchen: A Chapbook of Recipes and Thrift for the Home Kitchen, by Odessa Piper with illustrations by Eric Lewandowski, 2013.
Hickorynut Documentary DVD: Audry and Bob Biersach demonstrate methods for selecting, gathering, shucking, storing, and marketing hickorynuts. With recipe demos by Odessa Piper and commentary by Bill Lubing.
Fresh in the Village: Co-produced with Eric Lewandowski. 24 seasonal recipes with original linocut prints, featuring produce from the Roslindale Farmers Market combined with unique ingredients from Roslindale Village shops. www.freshinthevillage.org
Seed Savers Calendar from the Preservation Garden  2001, 2002, 2003, 2004. Curated recipes from L’Etoile and Chefs Collaborative Restaurant members.

Contributor

Wisconsin Local Foods Journal: Essay, “Thoughts on sustainability” (2013)
The Chefs Collaborative Cookbook (2013)
The Flavor of Wisconsin by Harva Hatchen and Therese Allen: Foreword  (2009)
Food & Philosophy, edited by Fritz Allhoff and Dave Monroe: Foreword (2007)
Madison Originals Cookbook: Introduction (2007)

Presentations

Keynote address at annual conference of American Cheese Society, Madison, Wisconsin, August 2013
2006 Commencement Speech: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Speaker at organic farming conferences: Wisconsin, Iowa, Maine, and Michigan
Guest Lecturer: University of Wisconsin–Madison: Rural Sociology and the School of Business; University of Wisconsin–Steven’s Point; CPS Dietetics; The New England Culinary Institute; The Culinary Institute of America-Hyde Park, NY
October 1999, Testimony at request of Rep. Tammy Baldwin to U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Consolidation in Agriculture

Television and Radio

Chefs A’Field: Co-featuring Mary Falk of Love Tree Farm
PBS Series “America’s Best Chefs”: Hosted by Jeremiah Tower
Wisconsin Public Radio: “To the Best of Our Knowledge”
WHA Television
PBS: “Pierre Franey’s Cooking in America”

Honors & Profiles

Awards and Honors

Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters: University of Wisconsin Madison–2006
James Beard Foundation: Best Chef Midwest–2002
Gourmet Magazine Restaurant Issue, October 2001: “L’Etoile 14th of Top 50 Restaurants in America”
Nations Restaurant News: Recipient Hall of Fame
Women Chefs and Restaurateurs: Women Who Inspire—Golden Whisk

Book, Magazine, and Newspaper Profiles

Washington Post: “Odessa Piper, a ‘Recovering Chef’ Who’s Working the Markets”  (2009)
Sierra Magazine: The Planet on a Plate by Paul Rauber (1994)
The Taste of Place: A Cultural Journey into Terroir: “Tasting Wisconsin: A Chef’s Story” by Amy Trubek (2008)
Fields of Plenty by Michael Ableman
Gourmet Magazine: “A Woman of Sustenance” by Jonathan Gold
The Wine Spectator, The Art of Eating, Bon Appétit, The NewYork Times (1988)

ASSOCIATIONS

Northeast Organic Farming Association: www.nofamass.org
The Land Institute: www.landinstitute.org
Slow Money: www.slowmoney.org
Cornucopia Institute: www.cornucopia.org
REAP Food Group: www.reapfoodgroup.org
North American Fruit Growers: www.nafex.org
American Cheese Society: www.cheesesociety.org
Women Chefs and Restaurateurs: www.womenchefs.org
James Beard Foundation: www.jamesbeard.org
Roslindale Village Farmers Market: www.roslindale.net/farmersmarket/
Northern Nut Growers Association: nutgrowing.org
Slow Food USA: www.slowfoodusa.org
The Food Project : thefoodproject.org