Cookbook Authors at the 2012 Southern Kentucky Bookfest

 

Kentucky native Maggie Green and Georgia native Virginia Willis headlined the 9:00 a.m. session at this year’s Bookfest.

Green is the owner of The Green Apron Company, a Northern Kentucky consulting firm specializing in culinary nutrition and cookbook development.  Her newest book, now into its second printing, The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook, was published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2011.  She talked about organizing the more than 200 recipes by season, incorporating Kentucky-grown and produced food with lots of tips on buying everything from produce to wine and even the pros and cons of organic foods. In addition to writing her own cookbook she’s been working for the “Joy of Cooking Kitchen” since 2000 and served on the editorial staff for the 75^th Anniversary edition and answers email for their web site.  She’s recently launched a cookbook “camp” for would be authors. She writes a wonderful blog at:

http://www.greenapron.com/blog where she interviews famous cookbook authors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Virginia Willis, is a native of Evans, Georgia where she gained her love of cooking from her grandmother.

She spent three years in France and is a graduate of L’Academie de Cuisine and Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne.  Stateside she’s worked as TV Kitchen Director for Bobby Flay and later for Martha Stewart

and was the executive producer for the Discovery Channel’s Epicurious.  Moving back to Atlanta she wrote her first cookbook  Bon Appétit Y’All in 2008 followed in 2011 by Basic to Brilliant Y’All both of which have been nominated for best cookbook awards.  Virginia talked about taking 150 refined southern recipes with suggestions on how to dress them up for company.  Virginia spoke about her March trip to the Paris cookbook fair where she demonstrated her “shrimp and grits” and about a visit to the White House where chefs from around the country were invited to promote First Lady Michelle Obama’s child nutrition initiatives.  She was recently named a contributing editor of Southern Living. She teaches cooking classes around the country and shares some great recipes at: http://www.virginiawillis.wordpress.com/

 

 

DLPS Department Head Brian Coutts moderated the session.