So many of you have been thinking of Shirley's biscuits as well as Kate's, that it stirred up a request from Catherine Thompson asking me about the pork chop theory.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure about who started the theory. But here's how it was applied. When we first started IACP, our professional organization, and Atlanta was beginning, just barely, to make a name for itself as having restaurants other than continental, and serious cooks, there were three of us that were prominent in IACP – myself, Shirley Corriher and Diane Wilkinson. The temptation was to think, as women had always thought, that there was only room for one of us nationally. That we had to knock each other out of the row boat. Well, none of us were good knocker-outers. We were all cooks, cooking teachers, and completely different, with different areas of expertise. So we made a pact. We might grumble amongst ourselves about each other, but outside of Atlanta we would not cririticise each other, but would support each other.

Rather than limiting ourselves to just one prominent woman from Atlanta, we applied the pork chop theory. What is the pork chop theoy? If there is only one pork chop in the pan it goes dry; if there are two or more, the fat from one feeds the other. And so, we operated on the pork chop theory. Diane became head of a committee, which was what she wanted, and Shirley and I were both elected to the Board of Directors. Now, the Les Dames des Escoffier and many other organizations have proved us right....when you apply the pork chop theory, you give a lot of people the juice to keep on pushing, and there is room for us all. It is easier to expand than to shove someone out of the boat and live with the consequences of falling out yourself.