“As long as I can remember Granny (Emily Bollinger) and Aunt Kim (Bollinger) always made Christmas candy and cookies,” said

“I had to get used to short order cooking here,” said Lisa Brown, when she started at Pizza Palace in

Top winners in the pie and cake categories at the Vardaman Sweet Potato Festival included:

“My mother says I’ve always had  a ‘creative flair in the kitchen’,” said Gayla Tutor Bennett of Bruce. And at

“The Penick ladies were known for their cooking,” Susan Penick Leachman of Bruce and formerly of Vardaman, said, especially of

“Food makes a memory and it makes a connection,” says Angie Burns, who said she started “really” cooking about 10

Geraldine Clark of Bruce cooks every Sunday for “the whole bunch.”

Wade Shoemake’s  interest in cooking started when he was watching his dad, Gary, fry bacon in a black skillet.

BBQ is Brandy Baker’s favorite, and she learned to make it from her dad. His has a sweet taste that

Bridgett Brown Fulton loves to cook when she has the “hankering” and the time, and “when I cook, I cook.”