The Tribune

BACK in 1989, local artist and art educator Sue Bennett-Williams was approached by the owner of Appletree Press in Dublin, Ireland, to create illustrations for a small cookbook that would be introduced as a part of a series.

At that time, Sue had been making a name for herself in the art community in the Bahamas by creating vibrant watercolours of all forms of tropical flora found throughout the islands.

When given the opportunity to work on the cookbook project with author Rosamund Roberts (nee Lambert), Sue jumped at the idea.

The first edition of “A Little Bahamian Cookbook” hit the local market in 1990 and was available throughout the Bahamas for at least a decade. Then copies suddenly became very scarce and eventually disappeared completely.

A few months ago, Sue was contacted by a person from the Nassau Promotion Board trying to find out where she could locate the compact book that was so full of colourful illustrations. That started the ball rolling with an e-mail to Appletree.

Sue has now taken on a new role upon retirement from the College of The Bahamas as publisher in her new Bahama Arts Publishing Company with the new edition of “A Little Bahamian Cookbook”. It has the same beautiful illustrations and many of the traditional recipes have been updated by Rosamund Roberts. Sue and Rosamund remained friends after the first edition was published and both of Rosamund’s daughters spent many years attending Sue’s art classes at ASMAC Studios.

“A Little Bahamian Cookbook” is available for purchase at the cost of $15. The book will be available in a number of shops throughout Nassau and the Family Islands in the coming months or can be purchased directly from Sue Bennett-Williams. It will also be available at the upcoming Bahamas National Trust’s Wine and Art event (new date to be announced shortly) as well as at its Jollification in November.