Flora Mae Hunter

Flora Mae Hunter (née Ross, November 29, 1910 or 1911 – December 8, 2003) was an American cook and cookbook author. She was a longtime cook on plantations in northern Florida—in particular, cooking for 36 years at Horseshoe Plantation near Tallahassee, Florida. In 1979 she published a cookbook of recipes from her career cooking for the plantation's workers as well as the owners and guests, called Born in the Kitchen: Plain and Fancy Plantation Fixin's. In 1988, she was awarded a Florida Folk Heritage Award for her contributions to the "cultural resources" of the state.

Early life Flora Mae Ross was born in 1910 or 1911 on Springhill Plantation in Thomas County, Georgia, near the Florida border. They moved to Tallahassee, Florida, in 1914. Flora Mae, then 21, married Peter Hunter, who had begun working at Horseshoe Plantation tending the fire in circa 1917, One of its projects was the Horseshoe Club, a sewing, crafts and service organization for those living around the Horseshoe Plantation; Hunter was its president. The book reflected the two groups she cooked for in her career, but also made some adaptations from the recipes she had used. Convenience foods appeared in some recipes, where she would have cooked from scratch. It was awarded at the annual Florida Folk Festival in White Springs, Florida, attended by an estimated 20,000 visitors.