Angie Coghlan of Holly Bluff has traveled the world, learning recipes and shaping her culinary skills. Now, she joins the Yazoo Arts Council to teach cooking classes for adults.
While Coghlan has roots in Yazoo County, she grew up in Louisiana with her family. She said she visited her relatives in Mississippi as often as she could, and some of her fondest memories with them revolved around cooking.
Coghlan said growing up in her family, which consisted of her mother, father and three other siblings, meant that most of the time their meals were either fried or limited to easy-to-make meals from cans or boxes to save time.
"Visiting my grandparents Elzie and Hettie Honeycutt of Wolf Lake, and Charlie and Stella Hill of Bentonia, was like visiting five star restaurants for me," she said. "Everything came out of their garden. My grandmother Hill was an exceptional cook and always had different kinds of cakes and pies that she had made from scratch."
Coghlan said that she always had a fascination with the pies, and enjoyed the chances she got to go to the grocery store with the Honeycutts.
"My grandmother would let me buy things from the grocery store and prepare them," Coghlan said. "I'm sure they tasted awful, but she would act like they were delicious."
Back at home in Louisiana, Coghlan would grow up experimenting with her mother's cookbook from a local church, making unusual dishes that they didn't normally eat at home.
At the age of 18, Coghlan and her family moved back to Yazoo City, but she could not contain her wanderlust.
By the time she was 20, she was living in Los Angeles, California, working as a receptionist at a commercial interior design firm.
"It was the beginning of a culinary awakening," she said. "Suddenly I was exposed to tastes and smells that I had never experienced before. I tried every ethnic restaurant I could."
A couple of years later, Coghlan had been invited to visit a friend in Paris, France, and ended up staying longer.
"I had only thought I'd experienced good food before then," she said. "I tasted dishes that were more like spiritual experiences than food. I can remember some that literally brought tears to my eyes."
Coghlan's experience showed how the French have a relationship with food, and that they spend more time and money when selecting, preparing, and consuming meals. She added that a lunch break can last up to two hours, and that she had once attended a dinner party that lasted five hours.
"You would think that it would be torturous to spend that much time eating, but it was a very pleasant experience," Coghlan said. "Rather than piling multiple dishes on the table and devouring it in less than ten minutes, each course was brought out at a time and was slowly savored between sips of wine and conversation."
As a result of the time she spent in Paris, Coghlan learned how to prepare classic French dishes such as Poulet Basquaise (Basque Chicken), Boeuf Bourguignon (Burgundy Beef), Blanquette de Veau (Veal in Cream Sauce), and Lamb.
A few months later, Coghlan was back in the United States, living in Laguna Beach, California, and working as a project manager for a software company, which enabled her to travel and train other employees in offices all over the world.
"My coworkers at each location were particularly proud of their regional cuisine and we spent a lot of time at the table in some very nice fine-dining establishments," she said. "I was fortunate enough to have sampled authentic, local dishes in Sweden, Holland, Germany, France, England, Italy and Tunisia, as well as many major cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Atlanta."
After that, Coghlan said that all she wanted to do was create the same kinds of food she had experienced, and she read cookbooks like novels as often as she could.
Years later, Coghlan moved to Arkansas to work for their Department of Heritage, which specializes in preservation and conservation, and supports arts organizations. She soon after was transferred to the Arkansas Arts Council as a Public Information Officer.
While Coghlan was very good at all things dealing with the arts, there was still something missing.
She later decided on becoming a full-time to her children, and stayed at home with them, while attending culinary classes at night and on the weekends.
Coghlan said that all art is important, and that it gives a person the opportunity to express themselves without using words.
"When you create, whether it's food, music, performance or visual art, you're actually giving a part of your heart and soul to others," she said. "It evokes emotion and feeds the mind and spirit, and the world would be a better place with more of it."
Now a resident of Yazoo County, Coghlan searched for ways that she could encourage more people to explore the art world. She started out by teaching basic cooking classes for a local youth group.
While she has mastered many different skills in the kitchen, Coghlan still has her go-to recipes when she is whipping up a meal or a tasty dessert for her family.
"I love making pies and desserts," she said. "I also like braises. My family says that my best meals are when I don't know what to make and start grabbing things out of the pantry and fridge and start throwing them together."
Coghlan's cooking skills gained so much popularity with locals that she was approached by the Yazoo Arts Council to host a class.
"When we first discussed ideas about what classes could be offered, I mentioned the chopping and pie classes," Coghlan said. "Teaching people how to do things that they didn't know they could do was always my favorite part of any job I've ever had."
Coghlan's first program to host with the Yazoo Arts Council, "Chop Like a Pro: It's an Art!", took place on Tuesday, Sept. 25 inside the Triangle Cultural Center in Yazoo City.
Seats for the event quickly sold out, and participants enjoyed refreshments while chopping up a variety of fruits, vegetables, and greens.
At the end of the event, participants took home the aprons, cutting boards, and chef's knives they used for the class, as well as newfound confidence in themselves in the kitchen.
"The class was a lot of fun," Coghlan said. "Everyone that came did a fantastic job and made the class really enjoyable."
The next class to be offered by Coghlan and the Yazoo Arts Council will be "The Art of Piemaking: Creating the Crust" on Tuesday, October 9, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. The event is open to the public at $20 per person, but seating is limited.
"The art of pie making is quickly becoming a lost art, and a lot of people are terrified by the prospect of making a pie crust," Coghlan said. "I would like to teach how simple it can actually be. When you pull a beautiful, flaky, delicious pie from the oven that you made from scratch, that small achievement has a huge impact for your sense of accomplishment."
For more information about these and other upcoming classes with the Yazoo Arts Council, or to become a member, call 662-746-7776.
