On the Bright Side
Heather Bailey and The Optimal Kitchen
“I’ve prepared at least six tons of it over the years,” says plant-loving chef Heather Bailey of her Thai noodle salad. Knowing that these noodles, peppered with a rainbow of crunchy veggies and tossed in her signature sauce, are number one with her customers makes her smile. “The real challenge is not reaching out to that person who loves every vegetable, but the one who lives on meat and potatoes,” says Bailey. “If this recipe gets them to take that first step, it’s great.”
Once earning an English degree at Colgate, Bailey, like many college grads, wasn’t sure where her diploma would lead. Bailey and her pal Sandi landed in Vieques, Puerto Rico in 1992 to paint Sandi’s parents’ house. To their own surprise, the two stayed on to run a guesthouse’s eatery: The Spyglass Bar & Grill. For several years she worked with David Donovan, who would later cook at The Flagship restaurant in Provincetown.
Two decades later, Heather Bailey operates The Optimal Kitchen, offering prepared food weekly at many venues, catering services, nutritional counseling, lessons in cooking skills and more. Venturing off the beaten path at every opportunity is perhaps her trademark move.
In Vieques, Heather met David Bailey, a cook on the island. Soon married and considering where to put down roots, the outer Cape beckoned. As a kid, she attended the Cape Cod Sea Camps in Brewster. Their best friends from Vieques were already spending six months a year here, and when learning of the quality public schools for the family they hoped to have, they marked the map.
Purchasing a big old New England Gothic house, the young couple carved out four individual bedroom suites. “We ran it for three years as a traditional B & B,” says Bailey, “serving huge gourmet breakfasts.” Daughter Montana made them a threesome in 2002, easing them into renting weekly. Once sister Lela arrived, they stretched out into their home and put an end to inn-keeping.
Bailey worked at the Captain Linnell House, rotating from pastry to plating, to grill, to saute and veggies. After that, she directed the Sylvan Learning Center while also joining the catering staff at Sumptuous Food. Artist and graphic designer David Bailey was on staff at The Barnstable Patriot newspaper.
Bailey’s next move was inspired by a nutrition talk. “I learned that my daughters’ generation would have a shorter life expectancy then mine. Things were evolving in the wrong direction, with cardiac disease, obesity and diabetes on the rise.” Pondering that, Bailey felt that few in her industry were informing their perspectives from the standpoint of nutrition. “To be able to do that, I needed and wanted more tools.”
Bailey earned a degree in nutrition and anatomy remotely in 2006 from the Global College of Natural Medicine in Santa Cruz, CA. Her first job using it was as the Nutrition Coordinator of Cape Cod Child Development. “It was awesome, I ran the municipal Head Start programs from Hyannis to Brewster.”
With two children in elementary school, Bailey volunteered at after-school activities. Helping draft the Nauset district wellness policy, the committee successfully pushed to end in-school food treats and to mandate twice weekly gym. Musing on the time spent in local schools, Bailey especially misses the cooking classes. “I often introduced kids to things that some had never experienced,” she says. “One 3- or 4-year-old who had only ever eaten it as nuggets remarked, ’Do all chickens have bones?’”
The experience of growing up amidst Manhattan’s cultural diversity is what truly flavors Bailey’s creations. “Then, I would just eat it all. There was a Pakistani place, The Greek Village and incredible baba ghanoush. I didn’t get that it was ethnic food,” she says, “it was just awesome food.”
Bailey began at the Orleans Farmers Market in 2008, launching as The Optimal Kitchen (TOK), with simple vegetable dishes, grain-based salads and nutritious snacks. In 2011 TOK became her full-time gig, peppered with jobs with Cosmos Catering and independent nutritional consults.
TOK’s logo sprouted organically as David riffed off his self-designed ankle tattoo of her initials before marriage – H and K (Kroll). Morphing the letters into an intertwined T, O and K, its style echoes Bailey’s eclectic use of spice, informed by the world cuisine of New York City and Vieques. “The Caribbean is a hotbed for cross-assimilation of cultures,” says Bailey. “It was the natural point of interface for spices and foods to change hands from the Caribbean to Asia and back.”
A self-tagged locavore, Bailey sources food close to home. When she does choose meat or fish, it’s Cape raised or caught. “I feel good about eating chicken grown organically for whatever price the farmer asks. We should be paying for the time and energy involved in bringing quality products to market,” says Bailey. “It’s been a solid year now that every piece of protein we as a family have consumed is local.”
Also consistent is Bailey’s intentional packaging. Early on she found most folks simply tossed away her compostable bio-based corn containers. Her now simple, round brown recyclable containers are part of TOK’s brand. Bailey says, “You can freeze these and customers say, ’Wow, no plastic!’”
Montana and Lela grew up at the market; one thing Bailey feels that has most informed their lives. While very young, they helped hoist tents. Ideal market mascots, they circled the booths collecting donations for musicians. A discreet vendor may have snuck them a thank-you cookie (albeit only whole grain, mom). “The market experience for them has been positive,” says Bailey. “They learned at a very young age how to engage, socialize and have entire conversations with adults. They practiced math, and we all worked hard. Of the parenting I’ve accomplished,” Bailey continues, “experiencing the market together has given them knowledge and a real connection to food, the importance of knowing where it comes from and why you put it in your body.”
Lela, a student at Nauset High, still works the market. Montana, a freshman at University of Vermont, studies International Sustainable Development, aided by local scholarships earned by her passion for environmental justice. Says Bailey, “I’m so proud of them and who they are becoming.”
Bailey also penned two seasonal food guides, The Flavors of Summer and Cool Weather Favorites, centered on eating a variety of seasonal vegetables and fruits to achieve a diet maximizing vitamins and minerals, nutrient-dense and low-fat.
Friend Lou Mahr had wanted a gluten-free muffin to fit his dietary needs while battling Multiple Sclerosis. So, they co-developed recipes for two varieties. Both grain- and sugar-free, these almond coconut and banana cocoa muffins remain on her menu today.
Then Covid 19 happened.
The pandemic’s drastic repercussions found Bailey unknowingly ahead of the curve in terms of health restrictions on food items. Already packaged in small and large sizes, her offerings were easily bagged up for to-go orders. Yet, how to expand her reach? Scarcely skipping a beat, Bailey instituted a weekly CSA, featuring five weekly plant-based items on Thursdays. Included are a soup, hummus, grain, vegetable and an entree like a zucchini-based shepherd’s pie. Posting options early in the week, Bailey coordinates shopping needs once clients RSVP.
Unlike many, TOK’s CSA demands no long-term commitment. See something you like, order it. Menus are often thematic, like these Super Bowl bites: lime cilantro hummus, Mediterranean roasted vegetable chili, black bean quinoa burgers with Romesco sauce and buffalo cauliflower bits. The prepaid orders are ready curbside Thursday afternoon, with a digital newsletter containing nutrition and sustainable living tips. Pleased with the response, Bailey launched a second Tuesday CSA. A bit lighter, it features five items with something in common, such as a raw juice cleanse. It’s gaining traction as swimsuit season nears.
A popular pre-Covid presenter at multiple Cape Cod Councils on Aging, Bailey gave cooking demos often accompanied by a soup or light entree and dessert for all who attended. These in-person gatherings were cancelled overnight. Mandi Speakman, the new Director at the Chatham C.O.A., found grant funds to host a Veteran’s Day pop-up and Bailey re-emerged. Clients drove up, popped their trunks and left with a pasta dish, side salad and cookie. More drive-by’s were scheduled.
Valentine’s Day offered a soup trio: white bean puttanesca with olives, capers and kale; winter root with sweet potatoes, squash and apples; or mushroom barley with Uli Winslow’s Truro-raised lions’ mane, shiitake and oyster mushrooms. “The more I work with them, the more possibilities I find,” says Bailey. “A trimmed lions’ mane recalls a slice of scallop; just another way of presenting this rich source of protein.”
Since 2016, Bailey has shared a commercial kitchen, allowing her to wholesale. Approaching the Snowy Owl coffee house in Brewster to carry her products was an inspired move. (The coffee house has a summer satellite in Chatham, and soon a year-round roastery and cafe in Sandwich.) “It’s far and away been my most successful entry into a wholesale relationship,” says Bailey. “Pre-pandemic my recipes were also the centerpiece of Snowy Owl’s soup socials. They opened in the evenings for a bit of out-of-the-ordinary and tasty community-building camaraderie. Hopefully that will happen again soon.”
“One of Covid’s bright sides is inspiring a return to the kitchen. In past decades, Americans seldom cooked from scratch. Some recall victory gardens, canning, root cellars and milk in glass bottles. It’s good to see these returning,” says Bailey. “Cooking is so old that’s it’s become new.”
Prepping at February’s end, Bailey points to cores from an apple crisp. “I’ve made it this far into the new year with apples I picked last August,” says Bailey. “I source organically when I can, purchasing from local farmers and I also grow as many leafy greens and herbs as I can myself. Our gardens at home are covered with leaf mulch and my seeds have all arrived.”
“I’m thrilled people are caring more about the foods they put in their bodies as they learn about the effects of monoculture farming on the environment,” she says. “Many are beginning to focus their eating choices to help curb climate change and to lessen their carbon footprint by shortening the supply chain and buying local.”
Remarkably, even in a winter of snow, frigid temps and blasting winds, the Orleans Farmers’ Market continues on outdoors and has been well-attended. One can often spy Bailey’s booth by its line, a tribute to her customer base. “Last week one of my regulars did a pick-up for a road trip,” she says, “Twenty-eight quarts of soup.”
“Winter markets are for everyone,” says Bailey. “Some people have no idea how hard it is to live year-round on the Cape. So many of us have multiple jobs. If we can connect with the people in our community, support our farmers and establish a more healthful food system, then we all benefit.”
A member of her town’s Agricultural Advisory Council, Bailey urges more education for every young person about regenerative agriculture. “Just as we encourage aquaculture and commercial fishing here, it would be good of us to back our young farmers and food producers in their community businesses,” says Bailey. “Growing food can be a very real stand-alone or supplementary income stream on the Cape.”
Farmers’ markets particularly support farmers by removing the middleman and directly connecting them with customers, vital for feedback. “If we can do a year-round market here, with little available and affordable space to grow on, with very poor soil, and with a low year-round population, then it can be done anywhere,” says Bailey. “Plus, markets can be essential platforms for bringing awareness to our community about our local economy and the environment.”
Now with the weight of Covid anxiety, it’s especially important to see other humans. “Many of our supporters are so grateful we’re open. I hear ’This is the single place I see people all week,’” says Bailey.
Where Bailey’s headed next is anyone’s guess. Will a brick and mortar one day be in the mix? “It’s not something I could rule out entirely,” she says, “but so far, not having a physical space, other than the commercial kitchen, has served me well. It affords me a lot of freedom from expense and allows me the flexibility to switch direction when I need or want to try something new.”
Cooking to her own beet has served Bailey, and us, deliciously.
