Today we’d like to introduce you to Kitty Morse.
Kitty Morse was born in Casablanca of a French mother and British father and came to the United States in 1964. She obtained her Master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Miwaukee. Kitty is the author of ten cookbooks, including a memoir with recipes titled Mint Tea and Minarets: a banquet of Moroccan memories, named Best Book/Arab Cuisine by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2013. The book centers around Dar Zitoun, her family riad (Moorish mansion) 50 miles south of Casablanca. Her French translation, Le Riad au Bord de L’oued will be released on Kindle in October 2019. Other titles include her award-winning Cooking at the Kasbah: Recipes from my Moroccan Kitchen (now in its ten printing from Chronicle Books), The California Farm Cookbook, and her latest, Edible Flowers: A Kitchen Companion with Recipes.
Kitty’s career as an author, food and travel writer, cooking teacher, and tour organizer, spans more than thirty years. Her articles have appeared in Bon Appétit, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking, Sunset (“Best Chef in the West”), and Eating Well, among others, and in international publications. She has appeared on national television networks in the US Morocco, and Mexico. Kitty introduced culinary tourism to Morocco, with gastronomic tours along the Sahara’s legendary Kasbah Trail, culminating with cooking classes at Dar Zitoun. She is a guest lecturer in California and beyond, from libraries and cooking schools to museums and universities. She has been a speaker on Moroccan cuisine and culture at the Los Angeles Public Library, the City of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution, and the famed Rancho La Puerta Spa in Tecate. MEX. Her online monthly newsletter, The Kasbah Chronicles, is now in its tenth year of publication.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My memoir, Mint Tea and Minarets: a banquet of Moroccan memories, took 12 years to write! For that, I went back to college and took creative writing classes: the best thing I ever did!
Freelance writing is not for the faint of heart. Since rejections make up 99% percent of your “marketing” strategy. But persevere! You will succeed eventually.
What I had discovered is that I LOVE the process of writing, and I see every freelance submission as a challenge. And I am very stubborn!
La Caravane Publishing – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My career evolved organically. I went to college, became a French instructor. I could have turned into a “campus parasite” but I needed to experience more of the world. I am also very independent. Thus, I began giving Moroccan cooking classes in the late 1970s. Students suggested I write a cookbook, which I did: that one also took me ten years to write. It was published in Morocco, a challenge in itself, but I did manage to sell 2000 books on my own in the US.
In 1984, I decided to work for the LA Olympic Games. I resigned from a teaching position and got a job with the French Olympic Committee. As an interpreter. That event changed my life: I escorted journalists around LA… and I wanted to become one.
My passion has always been food, and so I began writing food articles for magazines and newspapers. My “niche” is Morocco, and I was very fortunate that “my” cuisine was barely known at the time. All of I sudden, I saw my articles published across the US.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
To cook alongside Julia Child at a benefit in Santa Barbara and to appear on the Food Network with Sara Moulton.
Pricing:
- My books are all available on Amazon.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kittymorse.com
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Credit photos: Kitty Morse with permission
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