This week’s guest is Dorette Snover (Tales of the Mistress – Historical High Adventures of a Bread Apprentice in Medieval France, indie published March 2023). We discuss how this historical fiction centering on an agrarian society has tie-ins to Dorette’s career as a chef, baker, and founder of a culinary school which sponsors cooking classes in not only the states but southern France. A story that took almost 20 years to complete, we delve into listening to other’s advice vs. finding your own voice, how direct sales through farmer’s markets have worked well for her, and the joys and challenges of researching the history and culture of another country.

Influenced by her French name, Italian heritage, and the food traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country where she was born and raised, Dorette Snover graduated with degrees in education and culinary arts. As a writer, she loves planting tomatoes, making sourdough bread, and walking her stories down paths lined with fig trees. As a chef she’s been a doughnut maker, hospital dietary assistant, food-styler of fried chicken, fraternity cook, private chef, NPR commentator, goat-cheese apprentice, and media escort to cookbook authors. In 1997, she founded C’est si Bon!, a second generation cooking school in Chapel Hill, where her family continues to teach the mysteries of kitchens and cooking; both here and abroad in Europe.

To learn more about Dorette, click here.