August 11, 2010

For Immediate Release

SOUTHERN MY WAY: SIMPLE RECIPES, FRESH FLAVORS

TURNS HOME KITCHENS INTO SMALL TOWN FARMS

Atlanta Author and Founder of Fire & Flavor Releases New Cookbook Filled with Seasonal Recipes and Southern Culture

For Immediate Release (Athens, GA) – This November will mark the debut of author Gena Knox’s new cookbook, Southern My Way—a journey among the Georgia fields, farmhouses, and families that kindled her passion for Southern cooking. Along the way, readers will also meet local artisans who are responsible for keeping local foodways and farming traditions alive and learn how to incorporate these fresh offerings into everyday meals. Southern My Way: Simple Recipes, Fresh Flavors features more than 250 pages of seasonal recipes, streamlined for busy lives and accompanied by full-color photographs that portray a lifelong love affair with Southern food and culture.

“It wasn’t until I had grown up and lived far from home that I understood how lucky I was to come from such a strong tradition of kinship with the land,” says Knox, who was raised in south Georgia’s farm country. “I want home cooks to read my book and feel as though they shared the same culinary experiences that I did as a child, like riding through the fields to check on crops with my father or making homemade biscuits alongside my mother in the kitchen.”

Knox is passionate about sharing her modern take on Southern specialties, which adds a contemporary spin without sacrificing the quintessential flavors. As a result of her upbringing, Knox seeks out foods from local farmers in order to help preserve their traditions and encourages others to do the same. Through her new cookbook, readers can get a taste of how farming can shape both culture and community, just as Knox did while spending summers selling boiled peanuts on the side of the road and working in a peach packing shed. Southern My Way also shares Knox’s ingredient-focused style of cooking, which relies on fresh, seasonal ingredients to carry each dish with little added fuss. Her recipes, ranging from toasted pecan goat cheese with Tupelo honey to balsamic roasted chicken and vegetables to gingersnap ice cream sandwiches, are easy enough for novices but also will appeal to seasoned cooks.

“My newest passion is actually one of my oldest: immersing myself in locally grown foods and the Southern cooking I grew up on,” says Knox. “I put my own stamp on these dishes by adding contemporary flavors and removing some of the heavier components.”

Knox’s culinary roots run deep—she even pursued a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture due to her love of gardening. After graduating from college, she chose to follow her passion for food, starting a fresh salsa company in Colorado that soon turned into a catering business. Before long, she returned to Georgia to take a landscape architecture job on the coast, where she began experimenting with plank grilling. Unable to find quality planks that delivered the flavor and moistness she wanted, she decided to make her own. Thus, Fire & Flavor was born. The company took off, and the all-natural product line has since expanded to include grilling papers and skewers, salt blends and rubs, and brining mixes. Knox’s culinary instincts and knack for creating approachable dishes led to her first cookbook, Gourmet Made Simple, which waspublished in May 2008 and helps take the challenge out of gourmet meals for home cooks.

Now, due to the overwhelming popularity of Gourmet Made Simple, Knox is serving up a second helping of her culinary inspiration with the release of Southern My Way. Atlanta photographer Erica George Dines shot the four-color food and farm photography that accompanies Knox’s mouth-watering recipes. Dines also specializes in gardens, interiors, architecture and portrait photography and is a regular contributor to regional and national lifestyle publications. Her images have appeared in Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles and Garden & Gun.

Published by Gena Knox Media and distributed by BookMasters, Inc. –, Southern My Way: Simple Recipes, Fresh Flavors will be available in major bookstores nationwide and online at www.genaknox.com and www.amazon.com beginning November 1, 2010. The cookbook will also be available as an e-book through www.zinio.com. For more information, visit www.fireandflavor.com or call (866) 728-8332 for sales inquiries.