Loretta Barrett Oden

Early life Oden was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. She is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.

Career Oden spent three years traveling around the United States learning recipes from many different Native American tribes.

In the early 1990s, when she was 50 years old, Oden opened a restaurant, Corn Dance Café in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her son Clayton. The dishes were inspired by the many tribal traditions she learned in her travels.

She returned to Oklahoma in 2003. She is the chef consultant of the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, including 39 Restaurant which opened in 2021. She is working with AARP on an elder meals program, Native Origins.

Oden wrote and hosted the PBS series Seasoned With Spirit: A Native Cook's Journey for which she won a New England Emmy.

She is a founding council member of the not-for-profit organization, Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, for the food security of Native peoples; that they can continue to produce their own food in traditional ways.

Other Indigenous chefs, including Sean Sherman (Lakota) and Crystal Wahpepah (Kickapoo), cite Oden as a teacher and role model.

Personal life Oden was first married to Jerry Vandegrift, whose father started Van's Pig Stand,

She has two sons and two stepdaughters from her second marriage.