Keetha's Page

"It's a love letter to growing up in a Southern household...a delightful foray into the life of a 30-something...who revels in memories of family and food in the Mississippi Delta -- and the joys of raising a like-minded son." -- Today in Miss.

"Keetha DePriest Reed’s second book, More Culinary Kudzu: Recollections & Recipes from Growing Up Southern is as warm and light as a buttermilk biscuit and as refreshingly sweet as your grandmama’s iced tea with a sprig of mint. Keetha shares more of her magical childhood memories of growing up in the Mississippi Delta and the wonderful foods that time stamp special events in her life. She writes of her friends, family and her love for autumn among other seasonal topics. It’s also filled with delicious tried and true recipes. Keetha has been a caterer and a food writer for The Clarion-Ledger, so it might surprise the reader to learn that this southern foodie doesn’t like grits or eggs. However, she includes recipes for garlic cheese grits and deviled eggs because she knows it’s the right thing to do. Whether she’s making apple butter with her mother, whipping up her grandmother’s recipe for cheese straws, or explaining how to fry a turkey, the reader will be pulled into Keetha’s world and wish they could be friends. Because if you’re friends with Keetha you get gift boxes filled with special treats just because it’s the first day of fall. In More Culinary Kudzu, Keetha skilfully and tenderly looks to her past while driving forward to provide the same sense of wonderment and security for her son," by Lisa Cookston for Delta Magazine.

"Keetha DePriest Reed may dislike plain grits, hot summers, and playing softball, but her collection of essays and downhome dishes is as Southern as it gets. Things she loves include autumn, sugar cookies, family reunions (a recently acquired taste), percolated coffee, winter holidays, and gumbo. A writer and longtime cook born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, Reed describes memories and culinary delights from her native region in this second instalment of her Culinary Kudzu series.

“Food is a powerful link to family members and friends, certainly to memories,” she writes. Reed’s narrative weaves through the recipes with just the right amount of sentiment and spiciness. Nostalgic tales of deep-fried turkeys (“a job for the men-folk that gets them out of the recliners and actually doing something to contribute to the meal”) and the straightforward appeal of state fair cuisine will make fellow Southerners smile in recognition of our guilty pleasures.

A section at the back lists Reed’s favorite Southern places, web site, and books. While her recipes are waiting-to-be-dog-eared classics, her addictive, blog-like stories are to be enjoyed in one sitting." Mississippi Magazine

Keetha DePriest Reed, author of Culinary Kudzu, Recollections and Recipes from Growing up Southern, presents More Culinary Kudzu just in time for this year’s holiday season. If you are looking forward to all the merry holiday cheer, or even if you are feeling the angst of another seasonal marathon, More Culinary Kudzu will help put you in the jolly holly celebrating mood.
The Christmas section starts with Thanksgiving, of course. Have you ever wondered how they fry that turkey? Keetha has sure-fire instructions and safety tips, and will even tell you why it’s fried, and she’ll have you laughing while you learn. Christmas recipes include a suggestion for slow cooker hot chocolate (now why didn’t I think of that?), and includes traditional classics (that have been served in my family for at least half a century) and distinctly Southern delicacies I can’t wait to try.
As you get ready for the hot cocoa and savory season, don’t confine yourself to the winter segment of More Culinary Kudzu. Reading Keetha’s recipes is like flipping through your family’s recipe box: hummingbird cake and ice box rolls, seven-layer salad and cheese grits, pimento cheese and cheese straws, homemade mayonnaise (or the right brands if you opt for the store-bought variety), Sunday roast and the best chicken salad. She gives you her best recipe for gumbo and solves the mystery of the disappearing dumplings.
Keetha Reed has her cooking credentials. A former caterer, she has a degree in Hospitality Management from University of Southern Mississippi, and is a member of Southern Foodways Alliance. Her expertise comes from experience—not only hers, but also her family’s and all the friends who have shared food and love with each other over the years. These are recipes that have been tried and tested in Southern homes, and have reappeared on family tables by popular demand.
Interspersed with the recipes are photographs and stories of gatherings and outings. Keetha DePriest Reed is definitely Southern, a storyteller with more than a hint of humor. Don’t feel like cooking today? Then curl up on the couch and start reading. Keetha sounds like your favorite cousin, the one who would stay up all night and watch movies with you, or hang out in the kitchen, help you whip up a batch of cookies, and ice them if they weren’t eaten straight out of the oven.
If you grew up Southern, you’ll love More Culinary Kudzu so much you’ll want to share it with your mother, your sister, and that favorite cousin. You’ll use the recipes time and again, getting the urge to pop some sausage balls in the oven and call a friend to come over for a yak and snack fest. If you know someone that didn’t grow up Southern, give them a copy of this book. They’ll be on the inside track for knowing what it means to celebrate every occasion, even the first day of Fall, with love and food, and how community ties can be traced by the date of recipe and the name of the person who passed it along. Be sure and include a copy of Culinary Kudzu, too, which tells how to make, among other renown Delta goodies, Christmas Trash, Hash Brown Casserole, and Catfish Alison, and recalls such Delta-wide traditions and landmarks as the now-vanished Belzoni Pig Stand.
More Culinary Kudzu and its companion Culinary Kudzu take you time traveling through the Delta and give you the recipes to make traditions of your own. - by Donna Warner