'The Great American Cookbook Competition': Get to Know Fanny

Fanny Slater
Hometown: Wilmington, NC

Proposed Book Title: Tastes like Childhood

Book Concept: My life is a recipe composed of cherished culinary encounters. I will share sophisticated, yet approachable recipes that are enriched adaptations of the beloved foods that fill the memories from my childhood. Each dish aspires to be an inventive transformation of the unforgettable original. This cookbook is meant to encourage others to draw upon their unique food anecdotes and most importantly, to explore their own imaginations in the kitchen.

I learned how to cook standing on a chair in the kitchen with my dad. He schooled me on the art of savory homemade eats and taught me words like fresh sage and bouillabaisse. I have no idea what I learned in my second grade math class, but I will never forget how to shape crab cakes. I don’t ever recall a moment where my parents told me to stop being extraordinary.

My life continued to intersect with cooking, but I was always craving more. One day, I said goodbye to a life of fruitless jobs and announced that I wouldn’t spend another minute in an unfulfilling occupation. So, I got my Fanny in the kitchen and became CEO (Chief Eating Officer) of Fanfare Catering, and I’m a food writer in my eclectic riverfront town -- Wilmington, North Carolina.