The Heartwarming Story of a Girl and Her Cookbook
Friday, August 25, 2006 | posted by Mike
I know that sometimes we here at TVFF.com can be a bit cynical, with our snide comments and whatnot. But the weekend is upon us, yesterday was our biggest traffic day ever (Thanks guys! Keep it up!) and we’re in a good mood, so I want to pass along the story of Katie Harr, six-year-old cancer survivor and Mongomeryville, Pennsylvania resident.Her story comes to us from the Philadelphia Daily News. When she was two, Katie was treated for leukemia and spent years going through painful treatment with lots of time recuperating at home. And, just as I do when I’m “recuperating” from a few too many beers, she spent the time watching Food Network with her mom.
"She loved Emeril [Lagasse], she'd say 'Bam!' and everything... she even drew pictures of Emeril with the towel over his shoulder like on the show," said Harr.So, once her leukemia went into remission, Katie started to think about how she could give back. She decided to put together a cookbook, and she contacted a number of celebrity chefs for recipes.
Katie became engrossed with the shows "Unwrapped," which toured one food factory after another and "Emeril Live."
"And I liked 'Iron Chef,' " she added sheepishly.
The outpouring of support from the celebrities was overwhelming.
What resulted was a 783 recipe cookbook featuring dishes from Sandra Lee, Christina Pirello, Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, Michael Chiarello and Paul Prudhomme. Over 900 copies have been sold, with the proceeds going to a variety of local and national charities.
Be sure to check out the article, as well as Katie’s Web site, www.katieswish.com, where you can order the cookbook.
We all know that food and cooking has a tremendous potential to nurture and restore, and Katie’s story is a fine example.
