Southern food is as delightful and as varied as the region from which it comes - shrimp gumbo simmered in kitchens along the gulf Coast, roast venison from Alabama's piney woods, wild ducks from Georgia's marshland, tall stacks of Tennessee in-fare cakes, charlotte piled high in crystal bowls, dewberry cobbler, scuppernong wine, tender turnip greens with wedges of hot cornbread, peas cooked with ham hocks, Brunswick stew made by an old family recipe, fresh fish with hush puppies, chess pie, squash souffle, spoon bread, smothered quail with baked grits, chicken fried to a crisp, thick slices of country ham with red-eye gravy. The list goes on and on, as good Deep South cooks and discriminating diners know.
Kathryn Tucker Windham was an American storyteller, author, photographer, and journalist.
Windham got her first writing job at the age of 12, reviewing movies for her cousin's small town newspaper, The Thomasville Times. She earned a B.A. degree from Huntingdon College in 1939. Soon after graduating she became a reporter for the Alabama Journal. Starting in 1944 she worked for The Birmingham News. In 1946 she married Amasa Benjamin Windham with whom she had three children. In 1956 she went to work at the Selma Times-Journal where she won several Associated Press awards for her writing and photography. A collection of her photographs is on display at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. She died on June 12, 2011. The 2004 documentary film, Kathryn: The Story of a Teller, directed by Norton Dill, chronicles Windham's life and varied careers.
Each chapter and many recipes are introduced with a sweet or funny Kathyrn Tucker Wyndham story or anecdote. Many recipes bring back memories so vivid I can taste them or smell them cooking in my family memories. So many traditional favorites of my childhood and of generations before me. Will become a favorite book I actually cook from.