Oddette Augustus, a Paso Robles local, has been the proud owner of Miss Oddette’s Creole Kitchen catering service for over 17 years. The 66-year-old chef was left nearly speechless when she had been contacted by Cal Poly junior, Sophie Wiegand, and was told that the young Black Lives Matter ally had not only hopes but plans to support black community member’s businesses in SLO county, starting with Miss Oddette.
“It was just in an effort to support local black-owned-businesses ... and I just wanted to find something I could do for the community,” said Wiegand.
It was around 2 p.m., on Saturday, June 6th when these two, alongside Gavin Payne, set up shop outside Haven Properties, where Payne works as a real estate agent. Payne shared that it was merely a coincidence that Wiegand, who works with his fiancé, also wanted to offer support for black community members.
“We have this great parking lot that’s been sitting here empty for two and a half, nearly three months. So, yeah, we sort of threw it together and here we are,” said Payne.
Augustus had prepared her signature macaroni and cheese dish, which sold out almost immediately.
Oddette Augustus chef and owner of Miss Oddette's Creole Kitchen poses for a portrait.
“They called me -- and said they wanted to support a black business and they chose me and I’m just as happy as I can be.” - Oddette Augustus
When asked about her culinary background she explained that her earliest memories were of the kitchen and her Louisianan grandmother who was an at-home mother who regularly cooked for her family.
Augustus’ grandmother told her that she was too short to help cook; so a young Augustus would study each component of every recipe. When she was eight years old her grandmother began quizzing her on the at-home cooking lessons.
Once, when she and her grandmother had visited a friend, who was a cook by trade, Augustus expressed her grievance with the departure she was witnessing in the kitchen from her grandmother's methods.
“She didn’t cook like my grandmother, and I was about eight, and I told her,” said Augustus.
When Augustus was 12 she went to live with her mother, who was a teacher and preferred not to cook. This is where Augustus dawned the role of head chef.
“That was my kitchen -- by the time I was 12 I could cook dinner, basically cook dinner, and I could cook mac and cheese. I could do [a] steak, make green beans, [and] cook rice. I just got to junior high school and I loved it. I just loved cooking.” - Oddette Augustus
Despite childhood wishes to become a professional chef in her adult life, she had been discouraged by a variety of elements.
“I used to wish I could cook all the time, like -- you know, they had chefs and things, but they weren’t black, and I was in California, and they weren’t women, either,” said Augustus.
If you were a member of the Augustus family you were expected to go to college; working in someone else's kitchen simply was not an option by family standards, said Augustus.
“... in those days, black people weren’t really going to chef school, you know. Now there’s a chef with a Michelin star, a black woman and I’m like, ‘oh my god.’ That would have been me … had I been able to really do it, [been able to] pour myself into it back in those days,” said Augustus.
She went on to have a career in corrections, which she retired from in 2003. Amid retirement, she was in her fifties and restless. During this transition into retirement a cousin of hers, who sold Afrocentric clothing at local festivals proposed that they tackle these festivals together. Miss Oddette would cook tri-tip and her cousin would continue to sell clothing.
Instantly, Augustus was smitten by her new role in the professional world. She went on to buy her first catering truck and a thirteen-foot smoker.
From tri-tip to ribs, and chicken to her barbeque sauce, her food was a success she said, and the Creole Kitchen would soon be underway.
In 2008 Augustus experienced kidney failure, a transplant, and a divorce. This is where she parted ways with the food truck and larger venues.
She continued spreading her dish delights with her cooking emphasis on barbeque sauces and catering.
“I guess, the way things are now -- they wanted to support a black business, and I’m like ‘Are you serious? Have I lived that long … that somebody would actually call me up on the phone and say those words to me?’” - Oddette Augustus
Augustus explained that the current Black Lives Matter marches (which she and her children take part in) mirror the marches of the sixties that she and her mother participated in. She hopes that the future will be a time when her children and their children will never have to march for equity.
“I told my mom [about the community support] and she was moved to tears,” said Augustus.
Oddette Augustus concluded by expressing that she was grateful, happy, and hopeful. “This [movement] is different. It’s totally different,” said Augustus.
