Generation of Edibles: A Southern Legacy is Chef Elizabeth Weaver's first cookbook. She is a personal chef and a southern girl who has a love affair with cooking. She grew up around great home cooks and worked in the arts for 3 decades. This book brings together her love of her family recipes, entertaining and her desire to help anyone learn to cook. Chef Elizabeth could start by saying food has always been an important part of her life. Then again, we could all say that, right? We need food to survive and survival is important. For her, food means family, friends, gatherings, traditions and typically fun. The reading of ingredients, the original form of a recipe, evokes a strong love of family recipes for this chef. All Chef Elizabeth has ever wanted from any family member who has decided to "leave" her something are things related to the meals: we have shared cast iron pans, recipes and magic secrets to producing their dish. You will find many pies, pound cakes and casserole variations in this cookbook. They all have a place in Chef Elizabeth's food life. Sometimes food needs are based on time and place. Often, a meal is based on what we have on hand and how quickly the dishes need to appear. She is a great believer in maintaining a well-stocked pantry. Generation of Edibles is not just about the generations who preceded Chef Elizabeth. Cooking for her began as a way to help around the house in her early teens. In college, it was a way to eat for less and to create items better than ramen noodles. When she was working in the arts, cooking became a stress reliever as well as a way to entertain. No matter what happened during the day, Chef Elizabeth could go into the kitchen with a list of ingredients and tame them into something that made her and others happy. You might call creating food for others the Curtain Call of the food world. Chef Elizabeth loves taking that bow.