After 30 years, Sandra Wright-Sample's fry bread still sells out
Monday, July 20, 2026
Media Contact: Hicham Raache | Communications Coordinator | 918-293-4678 | hicham.raache@okstate.edu
Hot. Crisp. Fluffy. Delicious. Heavenly. These words come to mind when eating Sandra Wright-Sample’s authentic fry bread in Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology’s Cowboy Café.
Wright-Sample has been making magic at the Cowboy Café for nearly 30 years. Her cheesecakes, coconut tres leches cakes, and many other divine desserts have delighted countless students, faculty, staff and visitors. And the fry bread she learned to make while working on a Native American reservation in South Dakota has served as a key ingredient of the Cowboy Café’s Indian taco, and it routinely sells out.
The Cowboy Café will be serving Indian tacos again on Tuesday, July 21, and the anticipation is as hot as Wright-Sample’s fry bread.
“It’s always a big hit with the community and the students. It’s very good. They love it,” Cowboy Café Assistant Manager Jessica Ellis said.
Wright-Sample is a lifelong Cowboy. She was born in Stillwater and moved to Okmulgee when she was in fifth grade. She graduated from high school in 1977 and initially planned to study at OSU to become an opera singer. She instead chose a different creative path, enrolling at OSUIT, then known as Oklahoma State Tech, and earning an associate degree in jewelry making.
She returned to Oklahoma State Tech years later and earned associate degrees in culinary arts and baking. She met her husband in the Culinary Arts program, and his soon-to-be Air Force career would take her on many adventures across the country.
The Sample family was stationed in several Air Force bases, from Hawaii to South Dakota. Traveling and living in new places agreed with Wright-Sample.
“I loved the culture. I loved the food. You learn so much because everybody's in a bowl spinning around — different cultures! I loved Hawaii,” she said.
Wright-Sample’s daughter was a Girl Scout, an activity that also gave Wright-Sample purpose in those new places.
“They needed help, so I started [volunteering for] the Girl Scouts. Every Air Force base we moved to, I worked with the Girl Scouts,” she said.
Wright-Sample used the skills she gained in Oklahoma State Tech’s Culinary Arts program to prepare food for hundreds of scouts who attended Girl Scout summer camps.
“Each week it was different children,” she said.
Wright-Sample and her family lived in Hawaii for around five years. They next moved to Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and were stationed there for five years.
She volunteered as an adult development director for the Girl Scouts in South Dakota and frequently worked with girls from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
“And that’s where I picked up the Indian fry bread,” she said.
Rosebud Sioux tribal elders taught Wright-Sample how to cook fry bread and other traditional Sioux cuisine.
Wright-Sample said flour, salt, baking powder, Crisco and hot water are the core ingredients for making proper fry bread.
“But back in those days, we didn't have Crisco. We just had baking powder, salt, and flour. So different people make it different,” she said. “But here [at OSUIT], I just use flour, baking powder, salt, Crisco, and hot water. What holds it together is the hot water. You mix it up.”
Fry bread can be enjoyed in all sorts of ways.
“You can eat it with scrambled eggs, with onions. You can just eat it by itself, dip it in honey. It's more like a bread type — instead of eating a roll, you would eat Indian fry bread,” Wright-Sample said.
Wright-Sample returned to OSUIT 29 years ago, taking a job in the Cowboy Café kitchen. She is a fixture of the Café, making delicious desserts and meals, including Indian tacos.
The Cowboy Café Indian taco includes the fry bread with taco meat and beans heaped on top. Wright-Sample made 176 fry breads for Indian tacos in June, and every one of them sold.
“It’s a big hit,” she said.