NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- Nashville resident Amber Wilson is following an unusual career path.
Wilson is a science major who turned down a job offer from NASA to write about southern foods and culture.
For the Love of The South, published by Harper Collins, is Wilson’s first Cookbook. She says that, in addition to the recipes, the book also contains personal stories and the histories of some dishes or their ingredients.
Wilson says recipe preparation instructions also take an unusual form, reading more like a conversation.
“If you’re doing something for the first time, like making a rue or a pie dough, you kind of want that extra – you know – confident voice behind it. So I really tried to make sure that I help the reader along as they’re reading through the recipe.”
Wilson is a relative newcomer to Middle Tennessee, but has lived in the South her entire life. She began writing about food in college and many of the recipes in the cookbook come from posts to her food blog, fortheloveofthesouth.com.
Wilson says southern cuisine has a surprising reach.
“I find that a lot of people outside of the south, they love southern food; and people from all over the world. I have people from Australia and France – just different places – and they are enamored with the southern culture.”
Wilson says she enjoyed every part of the cookbook writing process; perfecting recipes in the kitchen, writing their stories…she even took the photographs. She hopes to start on a second cookbook soon.
You can find Amber Wilson’s For the Love of the South in Nashville’s independent book stores as well as your favorite online retailers.