Virginia Willis: Contributing Writer for Simply Recipes

Business: Virginia Willis

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Education: University of Georgia, Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne, L' Academie de Cuisine

Expertise: American, Southern, French, Healthy, Baking

Award winning author of six cookbooks
Contributor for online and print publications, such as All Recipes, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Bon Appétit, CNN.com, and Country Living
Food photographer for brands such as Roland American Foods, Panera Bread, and Food Network.

Experience

Published Works

Secrets of the Southern Table: A Food Lover’s Tour of the Global South (HMH 2018)
Lighten Up, Y’all (Ten Speed Press 2015)
Basic to Brilliant, Y’all (Ten Speed Press 2012)
Okra (UNC Press 2014)
Grits (Short Stack Editions 2013)
Bon Appétit, Y’all (Ten Speed Press 2008)

Editorial Projects, Recipe Contributions, and Recipe Testing

Foreword Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking, Ltd Edition with Pat Conroy. (Gibbs Smith)
Tasty Pride: 75 Recipes and Stories from the Queer Food Community (Clarkson Potter 2020)
Rage Baking (Tiller Press 2020)
Sous Vide Made Simple (Ten Speed Press 2018)
Eat Right for Your Sight (The Experiment 2015)
Small Jars, Big Flavors by Southern Living (Time Inc. 2013)

Print and Online Media Contributions

All Recipes, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Bon Appétit, CNN.com, Country Living, Culture Magazine, Eating Well, Fine Cooking, Food52.com, OKRA, Garden & Gun, GRLSquash, SouthernFoodways.org, SouthernKitchen.com, Southern Living, Taste of the South, the Washington Post, Weight Watchers, and more.

Awards

2020 The Hambidge Center Les Dames d’Escoffier Sponsored Residency
2020, 2019 Atlanta’s 500 Most Powerful Leaders
2018 Georgia Center for the Book "25 Books All Georgians Should Read" for Secrets of the Southern Table (HMH 2018)
2016 James Beard Foundation Award of Excellence for Lighten Up, Y’all: Classic
Southern Recipes Made Healthy and Wholesome. (Ten Speed Press 2015)
2016 Community Farmer's Markets Lady Locavores Leadership Award
2016 International Association of Culinary Professionals Finalist Best American Cookbook for Lighten Up, Y’all (Ten Speed Press 2015)
2014 Winner Flavor of Georgia for Sweet Onion Confit (Recipe Development)
2014 Les Dames d'Escoffier Third Place Winner M.F.K. Fisher Award for Excellence in Culinary Writing
2013 IACP Finalist Best Cooking School Teachers
2010 Georgia Center for the Book "25 Books All Georgians Should Read" for Bon Appétit, Y’all (Ten Speed Press 2008)
2009 International Association of Culinary Professionals Finalist Best American Cookbook for Bon Appétit, Y’all (Ten Speed Press 2008)

Best piece of cooking advice: "The best piece of cooking advice I could give is you can always cut, but you can't uncut. It comes from working for so many years in food television. The host or talent always needs something to do, often chop an onion or a mango or some such. I myself as an over eager prep cook would chop the last onion. Later, when I was a supervisor, I saw folks doing the same thing. The philosophy applies to many things - you can cook, but you can't uncook. You can cut, but you can't uncut. You can season, but you can't unseason. It's a mantra of mindfulness in the kitchen."

About Simply Recipes

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