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Recipe for Success
Gwen McKee's Cookbooks Sizzle!
By Kendeyl Johansen
stemmed from a frustration. As an avid cookbook collector, McKee often had to dig through several stacks of books, and multiple indexes, to find a favorite Mississippi recipe. She wondered if it was possible to combine all of the state's best recipes into one volume.
She soon learned it was. In return for letting McKee use their recipes in her Best of the Best from Mississippi Cookbook, contributors' names, cookbooks and ordering information were listed in her book.
The Mississippi book was a sizzlin' success, and McKee enlisted the help of her best friend, and favorite golf buddy, Barbara Moseley. "I said, 'Moseley you're going to get in here and help me' and we've been partners ever since," she laughs. The two soon had Best of the Best cookbooks covering the South, but not before they completely wore out four vans. "This was before the Internet, and we drove all around from county to county finding cookbooks and asking people about their favorite cookbooks and recipes," McKee says.
Because they both had children at home, McKee and Moseley squeezed their travel into only two road trips for each state cookbook – using the first trip to find and research recipes and the second to promote the book via radio, TV and newspaper interviews. "My family is very close, and 38 years ago, when we started the business, my daughter was 8, and very independent. She was willing to stay at home with her big brothers and her dad – I was lucky to have independent kids and a helpful husband, which made travel possible."
While traveling, the two friends took pictures for each cookbook. "We want our cookbooks to have not only the best recipes in the state but also the individual state's whole flavor," she says. Today, there are 43 books in the Best of the Best Series, including 40 state cookbooks and the newest offering: Best of the Best – Recipe Hall of Fame Quick and Easy Cookbook: Winning Recipes from Hometown America. "If we live long enough we'll finish the states," McKee jokes.