Georgia Writers Museum offers cookbook workshop

EATONTON — “No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at his or her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, and the wisdom of cookbook writers,” wrote Laurie Colwin, the food columnist for Gourmet Magazine.

Great cookbooks are more than culinary blueprints, they are creative inspirers of the master chef inside all of us.

Georgia Writers Museum announced recently the “Writing an Amazing Cookbook” workshop with Susan Puckett on Oct. 1 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the museum here. The workshop fee is $45, and the first five people to register receive a complimentary ticket to Taste of Eatonton later that afternoon. Register by contacting Georgia Writers Museum or www.georgiawritersmuseum.org.

Many cooks have boxes stuffed with favorite recipes to remind then of the people, places, and occasions that shape our lives. This workshop will cover writing recipes like a pro; adding context with stories, oral history, photos, and lively food descriptions; and weaving together the elements into a cohesive format designed for the kitchen or bedside table. Puckett also offers resources for those who wish to self-publish for intimate gift-giving, as well as for those interested in pursuing more ambitious commercial projects. Participants are encouraged — but not required — to send recipes from their own collections to the instructor beforehand ([email protected]) to add to the discussion.

Puckett is a James Beard-nominated food journalist and editor who has authored or collaborated on more than a dozen books. She was the food editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for nearly 19 years and today contributes to its Food section and other media outlets.

As a rookie reporter for her hometown newspaper, The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., Puckett wrote stories about working gristmills, cushaw melons, molasses-making and other fading food traditions around the state. The newspaper compiled those pieces into a book, “A Cook’s Tour of Mississippi.” This experience led her to study food and nutrition in-depth at Iowa State University, where she wrote her second book, “A Cook’s Tour of Iowa.” Noted American regional food writers Jane and Michael Stern praised it as “an account of the way Americans really eat … a rarity within gastronomic literature.”

Since then, Puckett has been a staff food writer and editor for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and written about food for numerous media outlets around the country, including Eating Well, CNN, Plate, Better Homes and Gardens, National Geographic Traveler, The Local Palate, Saveur and The Food Network.com. While at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she and her staff garnered dozens of awards for writing and editing from the James Beard Foundation and the Association of Food Journalists.

Special Photo: Georgia Writers Museum