This is a virtual talk!
Come “hangout for hunger” during the holidays and enjoy laughter and conversation with some of Atlanta’s favorite culinary creators, featuring Virginia Willis, Mary Kay Andrews, Tiffanie Barriere, Tamie Cook, and Erika Council. This free virtual event is hosted by Atlanta History Center in partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank.
Donations to the Atlanta Community Food Bank are encouraged to support our Atlanta neighbors during this difficult time. The Food Bank distributes over 70 million pounds of food each year to feed 755,000 people in Greater Atlanta and North Georgia. Every $1 donated provides 4 meals for neighbors in need. To donate, visit the Atlanta Community Food Bank website for more information.
Virginia Willis
Georgia-born French-trained Chef Virginia Willis has made chocolate chip cookies with Dwanye “The Rock” Johnson, foraged for berries in the Alaskan wilderness, harvested capers in the shadow of a smoldering volcano 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.
Virginia is the author of multiple publications, including Secrets of the Southern Table: A Food Lover’s Tour of the Global South, Lighten Up, Y’all, Bon Appétit, Y’all, and Basic to Brilliant. She has been featured on various television shows, newspapers, and magazines, includingFood Network's Chopped, CBS This Morning, Fox Family and Friends, New York Times, the Washington Post, Eater, and many others. Learn more about Virginia and follow her traveling exploits at www.virginiawillis.com.
Mary Kay Andrews
Mary Kay is the New York Times bestselling author of 27 novels (including Hello, Summer; Sunset Beach; The High Tide Club; The Weekenders; Beach Town; Save the Date), and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook.
She and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in two restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn and Ebbtide—both named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels, and both available to rent through Tybee Vacation Rentals. In between cooking, spoiling her grandkids, and plotting her next novel, Mary Kay is an intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses.
Tiffanie Barriere
Tiffanie is the bartender’s bartender, an influencer and educator who has been awarded with some of the beverage industry’s highest honors. The Bar Smart graduate is a Tastemakers of the South award-winner who spent seven years as the beverage director of One Flew South the “Best Airport Bar in the World.” As an independent bartender she is known for creative and innovative cocktail menus for pop-dinners and bar consultancy clients; hosting mixology classes around the nation, and connecting culinary and farm culture with spirits. As a leader, she is a member of the Tales of the Cocktail Grants Committee, the James Beard Advisory Board, and a member of the Atlanta chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier.
Tamie Cook
Growing up, Tamie loved to cook at the knee of her Mother. Little did she know, this early love for food would be re-kindled years later in Paris, leading her to the New England Culinary Institute and then to the Food Network show, Good Eats, where she worked as Culinary Director for 11 years. Prior to taking the job on Good Eats, Tamie was a stagiere for Anne Willan at the acclaimed La Varenne School in Joigny, France.
Now, when she’s not working as personal chef to stars such as Robert Downey Jr., Nick Jonas, Owen Wilson or Sylvester Stallone, she is researching, cooking or playing with food. Having worked on more than 25 cookbooks, Tamie Cook Culinary Productions is a much sought after culinary consulting firm specializing in recipe development, teaching, food styling and myriad other services. In addition, Tamie has cooked for many local and national organizations, such as The James Beard Foundation, Georgia Organics, Foodwell Alliance, Atlanta Food and Wine Festival, Georgia Ovarian Cancer Association, and Our House, among others. Tamie has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work, and currently serves as the 2020 President for the Atlanta Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International.
Erika Council
Erika is the charismatic food writer, recipe developer and photographer behind the popular website, Southern Soufflé. It is here the reader is taken through a brilliantly southern focused epic, with tales of food, love and freedom. Erika has become a fixture in the southern culinary world with her popular Biscuit Company Bomb Biscuit Co. in Atlanta GA.
This event is presented in partnership with Atlanta Community Food Bank.
Donations to the Atlanta Community Food Bank are encouraged to support our Atlanta neighbors during this difficult time.