The stories and recipes written by the McCrary Sisters, Ann, Deborah, Regina and Freda, are shared with love. Love for their mother who was known as Mudear, to whom this book is dedicated, and love for their own individual families. I know firsthand what it’s like to share food made with love by the Sisters. One of my earliest experiences was visiting them at a recording studio and from the moment I walked in, they were trying to feed you. Regina walked me back to the kitchen area and spooned up a large, wonderful dish of her homemade chicken soup and it was so good. Good, flavorful and healthy. The McCrary Sisters are four in a group of eight siblings raised in Nashville by their mother and father, the Reverend Samuel McCrary, one of the founders of the Fairfield Four. The girls were raised in harmony singing together from the time they were very little, but they were also raised in a house full of the wonderful smells of some of the recipes you’ll find in this book. I sat with the sisters one day in the very same dining room where they ate Mudear’s famous cooking and Ann McCrary told me her Daddy said Mudear wasn’t always a great cook. She learned how to become a great cook and she passed this skill on to the Sisters who are sharing their recipes with you, with love. -Joan Williams
