Mississippi Humanities Council

  • Interpreting Our History & Culture
  • Fostering Civil Conversations
  • Enriching Communities

The Soul of Southern Cooking I & II: Miz Bob’s Second Batch Cooking from a Mississippi Slave Girl’s Table

Miz Bob (known as Bob Hunter to friends and family) learned to cook from her mother and her grandmother. Her mental catalogue includes over 500 recipes and follows the art of cooking from the slave kitchen to her great-grandmother’s table. Miz Bob began teaching her daughter, Kathy Starr, all 500 recipes at about age 5, and in the process, Kathy Starr has preserved a lost art of cooking for future generations.

Speakers Expertise:

Kathy Starr was born in the Mississippi Delta where her family has lived since the mid-1800s. After seventeen years in nursing, she decided it was time to utilize her talent for cooking, a talent cultivated by her grandmother. She has, since 1981, owned and operated her own catering business. She published her book The Soul of Southern Cooking, a collection of “dash” recipes from her grandmother and her own memories of Mississippi Delta cooking. Kathy Starr received a Congressional honor for The Soul of Southern Cooking and has appeared on numerous cooking shows, talk shows, in magazine and newspaper articles.