Award-Winning Chef Loretta Barrett Oden

Tulsa Herb Society Speaker Event, July 13, 2026

Indigenous chef, restaurateur, and author Loretta Barrett Oden will be the featured speaker at the Tulsa Herb Society’s annual speaker event which will be held at the Tulsa Garden Center, 2435 S. Peoria Ave, Tulsa OK, July 13, 2026. The event is free to the public and begins at 7pm. Topics will include cooking with herbs and pre-contact indigenous foods of America.

Who is Loretta Barrett Oden?

Loretta Barrett Oden, a native of Shawnee, raised by both her native and white grandmothers, is an award-winning chef, native food historian, TV host and cookbook author. She is an enrolled member of the Potawatomi Nation. In 2006 she wrote and hosted the PBS series Seasoned with Spirit: A Native Cook’s Journey.

In 1993 Oden opened the successful Corn Dance Café in Santa Fe, NM. She is a founding member of the Native American Sovereignty Alliance and currently works with Turtle Island USA, a Native American slow food organization. Internationally she has appeared at slow food events in Turin, Italy, has consulted for Crystal Cruise lines, and worked for Monaco Vineyards and Copia-an American center for wine, food and Arts.

Her cookbook “Corn Dance, Inspired First American Cuisine” was written to share native indigenous food, ingredients, traditions, and recipes.

At the First American Museum in OKC, Oden helped design the kitchen and menu for Restaurant 39 using Native foods and ingredients and remains a consulting chef.

For more information, visit www.tulsaherbsociety.org/visitor-calendar.