Unique Southern cuisine and book club worthy conversations are on the menu for a University of Georgia Libraries event, featuring influential cookbook authors from the state.
“The Long Table: Southern Cooking, Memory, and Meaning,” will serve up food and discussions with award-winning food writers and chefs Valerie Frey, Nicole Taylor, and Virginia Willis, along with moderator Rebecca Lang. The panelists will share their secrets from the kitchen and provide tastes of their writing and recipes.
The $25 event is scheduled for Thursday, March 12 at the UGA Special Collections Libraries Building. To register, visit our website.
Read below for more about the cookbook authors and chefs, three of whom have published books with UGA Press. 
Valerie Frey is a writer and archivist who focuses on personal writing, local history, and folklife. She grew up on Sapelo Island in Georgia, but Cleveland County, Arkansas is her ancestral homeland; both places remain sources of inspiration for her works. Frey has an extensive history working in Georgia archives and won a Georgia Humanities Council grant to create Down Home Days, an annual event to help kids develop a love of history. Her cookbooks featured Southern recipes over the generations, detailing the changes overtime but also the traditions that have stayed with us.
Rebecca Lang is a food writer, cooking instructor, and television personality born and raised in South Georgia. Some of her works include “Pimento Cheese: The Southern Spread,” “Y'all Come Over,” and “The Southern Vegetable Book.” Her book “Fried Chicken” was chosen by the Los Angeles Times as one of the best cookbooks of 2015, the same year she was named one of Georgia Trend's 40 Under 40. She has appeared on QVC and the Food Network, and has been featured in Southern Living, The Wall Street Journal, Martha Stewart Living, and more publications.
Nicole A. Taylor is a James Beard Award-nominated food writer, home cook, editor, consultant, and producer. Her works include “Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations,” “The Up South Cookbook,” and “The Last O.G. Cookbook.” She has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NPR, Apple, BET, and NBC News. In 2019, Brooklyn Magazine named Taylor one of its 100 influential people in Brooklyn culture.
Virginia Willis is a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, chef, content creator, and motivational speaker. She is Georgia-born and French-trained. Willis founded Good and Good for You, a lifestyle brand that shares health and wellness strategies through digital channels, print media, and public speaking. Her works include “Bon Appetit, Y'all;” “Fresh Start, Secrets of the Southern Table;” “Lighten Up, Y'all;” “Basic to Brilliant,” and more. She has been featured on The Rachel Ray Show, CBS This Morning, and Martha Stewart Living.