Class at 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Georgia-born, French-trained, Virginia Willis has foraged for berries in the
Alaskan wilderness, harvested capers in Sicily, and beguiled celebrities such as
Jane Fonda, Bill Clinton, and Aretha Franklin with her cooking – but it all started
in her grandmother’s country kitchen.
A graduate of L’Academie de Cuisine and Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne, Willis’
first job in a professional kitchen was as an apprentice for Nathalie Dupree’s TV
cooking show on PBS. She has subsequently produced over 1000 TV episodes,
working on Martha Stewart Living Television, Food Network’s “Chopped”, and as
a judge on “Throwdown! with Bobby Flay”. She was also
recently featured on the front page of The New York
Times food section.
Willis is the author of “Secrets of the Southern Table:
A Food Lover’s Tour of the Global South”; “Lighten Up, Y’all”; “Bon Appétit, Y’all”;
“Basic to Brilliant, Y’all”; “Okra”; and “Grits”. “Lighten Up, Y’all” received a James
Beard Foundation Award. She is author of “Cooking with Virginia” for Southern
Kitchen and Editor-at-Large for Southern Living.
To research Secrets of the Southern Table, she traveled to 11 states in eight
months across the four seasons, interviewing and photographing a wide variety
of Southerners.
Details & Reservations: 305-367-5931