Culinary Biography of Susanne Wilder
Chef Susanne Wilder’s culinary biography began when she won a 6th grade baking contest.
She says, “My mom told me to add orange juice to the cake batter to make it moist, and that won the contest for me. Mom always encouraged me to pursue my dreams.”
Her mother also gets credit for sending her to a creative writing class when she was 12 and jumpstarting her love for the written word.
Education
Majoring in Home Ec at Washington State University, Susanne also had a minor in Journalism. This part of her education helped to fuel her drive to write. Waitressing and working as a sous chef to get through college helped prepare her to write restaurant reviews later.
When Susanne was in high school she wrote to chef Julia Child. Amazingly, she answered and encouraged her to attend the Cordon Bleu in London. Not only did she attend there, she also trained at La Varennes in Paris.
Professional reviewer
Susanne’s first experience as a professional culinary reviewer was in 1975 at Sunset Magazine as a Home Economist.
Part of her job was to sample and review readers’ recipes. “I would make the food and the whole staff had to sample it,” Susanne says. “Some of the dishes were great. Others needed to be washed down with a lot of wine!”
Taste panels
Del Monte’s Home Economics department was her next career stop. During the 1980s she ran taste panels for new products using Hedonic rating scales. Focus groups for product formulation and developing new menu items for restaurant chains were also part of her job description.
Moving Around
A diverse palate thanks to numerous moves and living on three continents helps Susanne with the restaurant reviews she writes for newspapers and magazines. Flavour, Appearance, Texture, Temperature and Shelf stable sturdiness, or as she calls it FATTS, are the basis for all of her reviews.
Cookbook Author
Recently, Susanne has been busy creating e-book cookbooks. Some of the cookbooks in her Wilder by the Dozen series include:
- Simple Healthy Timeless
- A Season of Soups
- Mexican Mains
- Pizzas Anytime
- International Vegetarian Dishes
- Bone Appetit!
- Best of My B&B Brunches
- Seafood
- Bhutanese Clean Cuisine
30 Minutes to Health is her latest book. It combines information about wellness and dealing with degenerative diseases with healthy recipes. This book is available in both print and ebook formats from Amazon and other online retailers.
Conclusion
This chef’s culinary biography includes a wealth of training and experience. These skills include:
- Recipe and product development
- Culinary and Wilder Wellness classes
- Marketing and public relations for food
- Guest chef appearances
- Media spokesperson
- Travel and food writing for newsletters and restaurants
- Food Service employee training
- Consulting for television programming and DVDs
Roller-blading, biking, kayaking, fishing and being a Hatha Yoga instructor are some of Susanne’s other passions.
Interviews
Client references
- Restaurants Unlimited Inc.
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New Zealand Green Lip Mussels
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California Avocados, Olives & Figs