Food writers and enthusiasts Debbie Moose and April McGreger contribute to the famous Savor the South cookbook series, concentrating on regional recipes brimming with zest and tradition.
Both authors appeared at Quail Ridge Books on Wade Avenue last Thursday to sign cookbooks and discuss their favorite dishes. McGreger’s book Sweet Potatoes and Moose’s Southern Holidays are now available from The University of North Carolina Press in Chapel Hill, NC.
McGreger’s compilation of 50 recipes in Sweet Potatoes is impressive and includes the background and history of the beloved orange root in Southern cooking. Founder and chef for Farmer’s Daughter Brand, an artisanal pickles and preserves company in Hillsborough, NC, McGreger places an importance on sustainable agriculture and a hands-on approach to food preparation. She is also a pastry chef at the nationally acclaimed Lantern Restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC, has been featured in Martha Stewart Living and received the Cooking Light’s 2012 Taste Test Award in the Artisanal category.
In terms of seasonal and homegrown fruits, the goal to preparing jams is to make them pesticide-free, organic and tasting like the fruit they are, according to McGreger. She is bypassing mass-produced industry jams and preserves by packing more fruit and less sugar into her products. Learning how to preserve foods by her mother and grandmother’s side, McGreger realized the importance of passing down recipes at a relatively young age.
Christian Pike, a freshman majoring in food science, equates cooking with an art form all on its own and thinks it’s important to uphold southern traditions and recipes in today’s modern age.
“Southern cooking is distinctive. If southern people don’t continue the traditions of southern cooking, it’ll be lost just like any other art style,” Pike said.
Melding the literary and culinary worlds together, Moose first realized her love for food writing when her degree from the UNC School of Journalism brought her to the News & Observer, and with it, the opportunity to connect with people through her food column.
“Food writing and talking about food is such a wonderful way to connect with people,” Moose said. “You can write about anything, really, when you write about food —anything from quick ways to make dinner to social issues to health to family memories. That makes putting the two worlds together pretty easy.”
Well-accomplished on the page and in the kitchen, Moose is no longer an editor for the N&O, but she continues to write an essay column entitled “Sunday Dinner.” She co-authors the column “Homegrown with Carol Stein and Debbie Moose,” and she also contributes to Our State and Edible Piedmont.
Though she didn’t realize her love for food and food writing until early adulthood, Moose has always had an appreciation for growing fresh vegetables and sharing quality time with those important to her.
“I did get from my childhood an appreciation for truly fresh vegetables. My father had a huge backyard garden, and we usually picked things from it no more than a day before we ate them,” Moose said. “I remember walking in the garden with him, and us pulling carrots or green onions from the ground, he’d brush off the dirt on his pants leg and we’d eat them right there.”
The author of six cookbooks, Moose’s latest addition, Southern Holidays, combines southern recipes with the purpose of also bringing families together for a festive meal to share during the holiday seasons.
McGreger will be speaking Wednesday, September 24 at Parker and Otis restaurant from 5-7 pm in Durham, NC. Moose will be speaking Friday, September 26 at O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro, NC.
