Presented by Nancie McDermott,
Cookbook Author, Cooking Teacher, and confirmed Southern Belle
According to acclaimed cookbook author Nancie McDermott, there are a dozen iconic fruits which hold an historic and enduring place on the Southern table. A Southerner herself, Nancie is in Chicago to spread the gospel of these beloved fruits and share the delicious rituals that surround them so that we Northerners can bring them across the Mason-Dixon line to our tables. To further whet our appetites, Nancie has just published Fruit: A Savor The South Cookbook. With equal parts enthusiasm for history and gusto for easy-to-make recipes, the collection considers six wild and six cultivated fruits that thrive in the region’s long, hot growing season. They include: Blackberries, Cantaloupes, Damson Plums, Figs, Mayhaws, Muscadine and Scuppernong Grapes, Pawpaws, Peaches, Wild Persimmons, Quince, Strawberries, and Watermelon.
Nancie will provide a tasting of several recipes along with tips on making the most of fresh fruit all year long. Copies of Nancie’s book will be available for purchase and signing with profits used to fund the Culinary Historians of Chicago.
BIO: Nancie McDermott is a native North Carolinian who headed off to Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 1970’s, where she taught English as a Second Language. She returned to North Carolina and taught middle school English and social studies. Marriage took her to Southern California where a notice for “Food Writing #101” in UCLA’s extension program catalog caught her eye. It’s been food and stories ever since, with free lancing for newspapers and magazines, teaching cooking classes, and writing cookbooks.
Fruit: A Savor the South Cookbook is book #14. Nancie’s early work, focusing on Thai cuisine, reflects her time as a Peace Corps volunteer. More recently, she has explored iconic Southern dishes, including critically acclaimed books on “Southern Soups and Stews, “Southern Pies” and “Southern Cakes.”
Her husband’s job brought her family home to North Carolina in 1999, where she continues doing all the above plus blogging about food, creating online cooking classes for Craftsy.com, and working on food and travel videos. Her website and blog are at nanciemcdermott.com
Recorded at Imperial Towers, Chicago, IL on November 4, 2017.
http://culinaryhistorians.org/souths-fruity-history/
