Dolly Parton has compared cooking to songwriting as she launches her new recipe book.
The country legend described her family as focused on “god, music and food” in an interview with Allrecipes to promote her new cookbook, Good Lookin’ Cookin’.
“God, music and food were the three big things in our family,” Dolly, 78, told the outlet.
She went on to explain she thinks of creating a dish as being similar to writing music – and added she often does both at the same time.
“It’s just being creative, like writing a song,” Dolly said. “Some of my best songs I came up with while cooking my best food, and vice versa. The better I write, the better I cook.”
Dolly co-authored the book with her sister Rachel and it was geared, she said, to evoke the feelings of home and home cooking.
“I think home tastes like Mama,” Dolly, who grew up as one of 12 children living in a one-room house in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, said.
“I think you always link those childhood memories with certain childhood foods that you love and the people that prepare them for you.”
She explained while she takes an improvisational approach to cooking, her sister is more methodical.
“I cook more like Mama – a handful of this, a handful of that,” the 9 to 5 singer revealed.
“Rachel is also very creative, but she wants to make sure it’s going to taste good, too – she’s not as sloppy as I am.”
