Digging into the subject

[SWoodyWhite]

Dear Brooke: While looking over at Amazon their list of other books that you've written, I noticed that, while this is your second book about New England, you've also written about New Orleans. I'd like to know how you go about researching your books. For example, how do you identify the flavors that mark the cuisine of a region? Do you find yourself researching history, as well as food, to help describe what you discover? And what happens when you discover a cooking technique unusual to an area, when you realize you might have more explaining to do than usual to convey the technique to your readers?

I'm glad you're able to take the time to join us!

[Brooke Dojny]

Hi SWoody--

I wrote that little book on New Orleans because I had been doing another in their "Best of..." series for a packager, and he happened to mention one day that was looking for someone to do "Best of New Orleans," and I volunteered, thinking I was semi-qualified because I'd spent a lot of time eating down there and loved that food and thought I knew it reasonably well. Besides, they only wanted 50 recipes, and just the classics.

Otherwise, I've stuck lately to my two specialties - New England and quickly-cooked recipes. although earlier in my writing career I did some books with kind of generel subject matter. I felt like to right person to do New England initially based solely on having spent most of my life here - and then when I started traveling and researching in earnest for The New England Cookbook, I found out how much I didn't know! That's why writing about food is so fascinating - always something new to learn. In general, I think the best food and recipe writing comes from people who live in a given region.