Martha Hall Foose Some people might say Martha Hall Foose got what she deserved when she ended up back where she started in the Mississippi Delta. After working in the café at Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, she realized she had read a few hundred cookbooks. In fact, at eighteen years of age, Martha seemed to be most adept at reading cookbooks and experimenting with recipes, so she set out to become a cook. Her newfound career path led through a Chinese restaurant in Aspen and a couple of whole-grain bakeries in Vermont. Always hungry for adventure and knowledge, Martha headed to the West Coast. Martha learned the artisan trade of baking from Nancy Silverton and Sumi Chang while at La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles. After a few years as the overnight baker for Campanile, Martha felt the need for a greater challenge and set out to get some formal training. Foose followed Silverton’s footsteps to Ecole Lenotre for the Pains de Tradition et Qualite´ course. Upon returning from France, Foose opened a Southern institution, Bottletree Bakery, in Oxford, Mississippi. Three years later, she sold the much-lauded bakery and married the head baker, Donald Bender. They moved to New Orleans where Martha was Pastry Chef for Bayona and an instructor at Spice, Inc., and Donald was baker for The Windsor Court Hotel and Spice, Inc. Next, Martha and Donald followed the Mississippi River up to Minnesota where she worked as Food Editor for Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks and as a consultant for Food Professionals Network and Tad Ware Photography. Donald worked as Baker at the award-winning Turtle Bread Company and Whole Foods Bakehouse. Family and the wish for warmer weather finally brought them back to Mississippi. For five years Martha Hall Foose served as Executive Chef of the Viking Cooking School and opened Mockingbird Bakery in Greenwood, Mississippi, with Donald. They now live dividing their time between Pluto Plantation in rural Holmes County and Greenwood with their dear son, Joe. She might say she got just what she always wanted.