"Cooking With A Small Town Girl" Author To Speak At Bartow History Museum

From the Bartow History Museum: The Bartow History Museum announces local author and teacher, Valerie Holt, will discuss her book, Cooking With a Small Town Girl, and her journey in competitive cooking on July 19th at noon. According to Holt, “Early in my teaching career, I was constantly trying out new recipes I had found in books and magazines. My colleagues were my taste testers. One day, one of the science teachers at my school tore out an ad for a national cook-off from a magazine and brought it to me. He said you cook for us all the time. You should enter this. I did and that started a nationally competitive cooking career that has spanned about 18 years so far.”

Holt’s accolades include being a finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-Off in Hollywood, winning The National Beef Cook-off in Fort Worth, Texas, winning the National Cornbread Cook-off in Tennessee, and the Grand Champions National Cornbread Cook-off also in Tennessee. She is a two-time winner of the Georgia Egg Cook-off. Holt has cooked with Paula Deen, contributed to Rachel Ray’s Magazine and had recipes printed in several Southern Living cookbooks. She is also a certified Kansas City Barbeque judge and can be heard on a local radio show once a month with Alan Sanders on WBHF.

Her book is a compilation of some of her favorite recipes and some of her cook-off recipes. Participants on the 19th will also learn how to enter competitive cooking, get a few cooking tips, and taste one of her dessert recipes. A book signing will follow.

The lecture is free to museum members and included with the price of admission for not-yet-members. For more information on this and other museum programs, call 770-382-3818, ext. 6288 or visit our website here.

Photos via the Bartow History Museum