Sarah Heard is an Austin-based chef and entrepreneur who integrates Central Texas foraging and sustainable agriculture into her professional culinary practice. As the co-owner of the established Foreign & Domestic restaurant and Lockhart’s Commerce Cafe, she shares the technical process of preparing regional specialties like wild nettle cavatelli and mesquite bean ice cream. Her work emphasizes hyper-local seasonality, evidenced by her recurring role as a featured chef at the Field Guide Festival in partnership with Ryan Gould of Gould Farm. Recently, she was selected as a panelist for the Summer Tastemaker Tour by the Visa Dining Collection and OpenTable, where she discussed the evolution of the Texas food scene alongside industry peers. Her public profile balances the rigors of high-end kitchen management with an active outdoor lifestyle, including participation in the Tough Mudder obstacle series. Industry professionals look to Heard for her expertise in nose-to-tail cooking and her efforts in revitalizing historic dining spaces in the Lockhart area.