by Jessica Hincapie

What the 2015 Texas Book Festival

 Cooked up for Austin

 

Unfortunately, I did not get to spend as much time at The Texas Book Festival, as I’d had liked to, but what I did see was astounding. So
many wonderful people showed up to support Texan Authors and Writers. It was truly wonderful to see The Capitol swimming with BookLovers. I got a glimpse at an array of interesting panels, but I found that most of my time was spent at The Central Market Cooking Tent, listening to Writers and Attendees talk about my two favorite things in this world; words & food. It may seem silly to think that the two play off of each other, but like the festival’s literary director, Steph Opitz, says: “Food plays an integral role in the celebration of culture, ideas, and literacy. The type of food we eat, how we prepare the ingredients, and ultimately how we consume and share it, is very telling of the actual essence of who we are and where we are from.” 
The first thing we watched was Virginia Willis, talk about her latest book, Lighten up Ya’ll, “a collection of classic Southern comfort food recipes–including seven-layer dip, chicken and gravy, and strawberry shortcake–made lighter, healthier, and completely guilt-free.” I’m fairly new to Texas, but I’ve always been a fan of the food, so to see classic hearty recipes made healthy, was extremely encouraging. My favorite was her take on cream cheese swirl brownies (yum!). Virginia Willis is an expert on southern comfort food and has written numerous books.

Friends of mine know that my boyfriend and I have been trying to perfect our Chili recipe for about a year now. Attending Rob Walsh’s discussion over his latest release, The Chili Cookbook, was perfect for us. We got so many great tips on different varieties of chili, as well as a brief history of the dish itself. You better believe that we went straight home and made chili for dinner, with some of these new tips and tricks (mushrooms instead of beans!).

It was no coincidence that I should find myself at this tent around lunchtime. The smells of local food trucks were filling my nose, and my stomach was responding in kind. If writing about food is anything like talking about it, then I imagine I’d always be hungry because after watching Virginia Willis and Rob Walsh talk about their upcoming cook books and food writing, I was ravenous.

Good thing their were numerous options to choose from. You could get Crepes from Crepe Crazy, barbecue from Micklethwait Craft Meats and tacos and smoothies from Veracruz All Natural. Amy’s Ice Cream was also there, along with many others. Famous cookbook authors were even preparing dishes in the Central Market Tent.

All in all, it ended up being an extremely fulfilling afternoon.