Susanna Keefer, Chef and Entrepreneur

Susanna Keefer’s childhood years were a wonderful combination of adventure and discovery. Born and raised in the south of England, each year her parents would take the family to France to spend a couple of fun-filled weeks. They traveled there on a Scandinavian overnight ferry that hosted a smorgasbord buffet in the evening, which consisted of fantastic displays of mouthwatering food. During these excursions, Susanna’s parents would allow her to choose whatever she wanted to eat for dinner, if she ate everything that was on her plate.

Susanna’s father was a wonderful gardener who grew all the vegetables, fruits, and berries that the family needed. Meat was purchased fresh from the butcher shop; milk was delivered to their doorstep; and eggs from a local farm arrived daily. Both of her parents considered cooking to be an art and encouraged their daughter to help in the kitchen. Fresh was the order of the day, and Susanna learned at a young age that eating healthy, nutritious food was the way to live.

The Morrisville chef admits, “Cooking is my craft. I have practiced it pretty much daily for almost 40 years and still learn something every time I step into the kitchen. My passion for creating balanced meals, while incorporating world spices and local ingredients, continues to deepen. I guess my culinary philosophy is that cooking has to come from the heart. You are creating something that has the power to give you pleasure, as well as to provide the body with all it needs to perform and thrive.”

This ideology began to develop in her late teens while working on the hotel barges that ran through the wine districts of France. The teenager watched and learned while helping the barges’ skilled chefs to cook classic French dishes. Susanna traveled along the canals that meandered through villages and the towns of the Loire and the Bourgogne, and later, as a young adult as head chef on privately owned yachts, she cruised the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and North American waters. Susanna was exposed to the most extraordinary wines and authentic foods, all the time learning more about the cuisine of each area they visited.

Susanna came to the United States to visit a friend in the Stowe area and wound up staying. After working at several of Stowe’s finest restaurants, she opened Susanna’s Catering in 2003. Her catering business, based in Morrisville, uses locally sourced ingredients to prepare globally inspired dishes. She considers it an honor to be invited into someone’s home to help them celebrate a special occasion with a meal that is nutritious as well as pleasing to the senses.

In March 2020, the busy chef launched “Susanna’s To Go,” which provides prepared meals that can be finished at home. An offshoot of the business delivers food to the homes of elderly clients and other community residences where folks need support with their dietary needs.

During June 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the catering company had lost 90 percent of its business. Susanna, never one to sit idle, saw an online course in nutrition and healthy living off ered by Cornell University. As her husband suffers from cardiovascular problems, the subject matter immediately piqued her interest. She trusted that this course would educate her about the power of food in helping to avoid or reduce disease. Today, Susanna is very comfortable cooking vegan, gluten-free, low-glycemic meals. The Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate that she earned from Cornell University reinforces some of her health beliefs and has inspired her to cook more diet-specific meals that benefit many of her clients. Susanna calls this course “life-changing.”

Susanna strongly believes that the quality of product, talent, and incredible work ethic of local farmers must be supported and sustained if we are to survive. As she notes, “My whole life, I have searched out sources for real food, and working with our local farmers and purveyors is the most rewarding relationship that I could ask for.” 

• susannascatering.com
• susannastogo.com