Dolly Parton Reveals Why She Felt ‘Awkward for a Long Time’ About ‘Being From the Country’

Dolly Parton has a plan to bring about world peace, and it involves chicken and dumplings. “What can bring families or friends together more than good food?” she asks. “You can put your differences aside if your dumplings are good enough.”

In addition to succeeding as a singer, actress and promoter of world peace, Dolly has added cookbook author to her résumé. Good Lookin’ Cookin’ is a new cookbook Dolly coauthored with her sister Rachel Parton George, the youngest of the 12 Parton children. “It was a joy all the way around to work on something creative together,” says Dolly.

The collaboration is very personal. It’s a reminder of their Sevierville, Tennessee, childhood and especially their mom, Avie Lee, who died in 2003. They most fondly remember their mother’s macaroni with tomato juice, bacon grease and butter.“ That was like Mama’s medicine,” Dolly says of the comfort dish Avie Lee made whenever they were sick.

Avie Lee taught them how to prepare and cook game their brothers or father brought home, including rabbits and squirrels. Dolly notes that good cooks “can make almost anything taste good.”

Dolly Parton Shares Her Family Traditions

Dolly and her siblings rarely went to restaurants, and if they did, they were very casual places. “I remember feeling awkward for a long time, being from the country, when I first came to Nashville and having to go have meetings in restaurants,” confides Dolly, who adds that she still likes to keep an eye on what fork or glass people are using at fancy dinners. “Even to this day I’m not sure I know how to do all that,” she says.

She still laughs about the time she and Rachel ordered corned beef and cabbage — and then wondered where the corn was! “When the waiter approached, he said, ‘Well, um, you didn’t order corn,’” she says. “I said, ‘Well, it said corn beef. Could you bring us some corn?’”

Today, Dolly is proud to share the recipes from her family tradition with fans who may have had a very different upbringing. “I’ve always been proud of who I am, where I’m from, and what I ate,” she says. Just don’t expect to get all the secrets to making her famous chicken and dumplings. “That recipe’s not even in the book,” Dolly says. “Everybody wants me to give them the recipe. I say, ‘I am not doing it. … You’re just going to have to miss me and say, ‘God, I wish she was still here.’”