Kitty Morse

Cookbook Author, Food and Travel Writer

Kitty Morse

Cookbook Author, Food and Travel Writer

Who is Kitty Morse?

Kitty Morse
Kitty Morse

Kitty‘s latest memoir with recipes, Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France was published in February 2023. Book Kitty for a book club chat, in person (Southern CA) or on Zoom. Please view this page for purchase or synopsis: https://kittymorse.com/2022/08/09/books/coming-in-late-november-bitter-sweet-a-wartime-journal-and-heirloom-recipes-from-occupied-france/

Award-winning author Kitty Morse was born in Casablanca, Morocco, of a French mother and British father. She emigrated to the United States at the age of seventeen. While studying for her Master’s Degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Kitty catered Moroccan diffas, or banquets, and went on to teach the intricacies of Moroccan cuisine in cooking schools and department stores nationwide. In June 2002, she conducted a Culinary Concert on Moroccan culture and cuisine hosted by Julia Child, as a benefit for the Harry Bell Foundation of the IACP ( International Association of Culinary Professionals). Kitty’s books have been translated into French, German, Polish, and Czech. In 1984 (and over the next 25 years) she initiated and led annual gastronomic tours to Morocco that included culinary demonstrations in her family home, a Moorish riad south of Casablanca. Her monthly enewsletter, The Kasbah Chronicles, in French and in English, is now in its twelfth year of circulation. She is on the board of LIFE (Learning IS For Everyone, a non-profit organization based at Mira Costa College, Oceanside, CA.

Kitty is the author of 2 memoirs with recipes and nine cookbooks:

Mint Tea and Minarets: A Memoir of Morocco with Recipes (La Caravane, November 2012)

Finalist in the San Diego Book Awards, June 2012

Best Book, Arab Cuisine, GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARDS

She has translated it into French as Le Riad au Bord de l’Oued: souvenirs et saveurs de Dar Zitoun. The book is available for Kindle and all other platforms on Amazon.com .

Awarded Best Book Morocco (translation) by the Gourmand World Cook Awards

  • The Scent of Orange Blossoms: Sephardic Cuisine from Morocco (Ten Speed Press, 2001). Co-authored with Danielle Mamane. Food photography by Owen Morse.
    • Nominee, Best Foreign Cookery Book, World Cookbook Awards, Perigueux, 2002
    • One of San Francisco Chronicle’s Ten Best Cookbooks for 2002
    •  
  • Couscous: Fresh and Flavorful Contemporary Recipes
    (Chronicle Books, 2000).

     

    • Nominee, World Food Media Awards, Jacob’s Creek Best Soft cover, 2001
    • A selection of the Book of the Month, Good Cook Club
    •  
  • Cooking at the Kasbah: Recipes from my Moroccan Kitchen (Chronicle Books, 1998). Tenth printing . Location photography by Owen Morse.
    • Finalist, World Food Media Awards, Michelin Australia Best Food Book, 1999
    • Winner (cookbook category), San Diego Book Awards, 1998
    • London’s Daily Telegraph, Cookbook of the Week, April 1999
    • San Francisco Chronicle, list of best selling cookbooks, October 1998
  • Rezepte aus der Kasbah
    German translation, March 1999.
  •  
  • A Biblical Feast: Foods from the Holy Land
    (Ten Speed Press, 1998). Czech translation, Spring 2000. Polish translation, October 2001.
  • SECOND EDITION: La Caravane, 2009
  • A Biblical Feast: Ancient Mediterranean Flavors for Today’s Table
  •  
  • The Vegetarian Table: North Africa
    (Chronicle Books, l996). Part of the popular Vegetarian Table series. Out of print.
  • Edible Flowers: A Kitchen Companion with Recipes
    (Ten Speed Press, 1994). Photography by Owen Morse.
  • SECOND EDITION: Chefs Press 2013
  • Updated and with new food photography
  • Edible Flowers poster
    (Ten Speed Press, 1994).
  •  
  • 365 Ways to Cook Vegetarian
    (HarperCollins, 1994.) Reprinted by Barnes and Noble (March 2000).
  • The California Farm Cookbook
    (Pelican Publishing, 1994). Photography by Kitty and Owen Morse.
  • Come with me to the Kasbah: A Cook’s Tour of Morocco
    (SERAR, Casablanca, 1989.)  Illustrated by ten of Morocco’s leading artists.

In my Mother’s Kitchen (Penguin USA, 2006). Contributed Pastelitos and Memories. Kitty has contributed recipes to numerous other  cookbooks.

Bio: Kitty Morse was born in Casablanca of a French mother and British father, and came to the United States in 1964 to attend college.  She is the author of nine cookbooks, including a memoir with recipes titled Mint Tea and Minarets: a banquet of Moroccan memories, named Best Book/Arab Cuisine by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. The book centers around Dar Zitoun, her family riad (Moorish mansion) 50 miles south of Casablanca. Kitty translated the book into French with the title Le Riad au Bord de l’Oued (2019). Both books are downloadable as eBooks on Amazon.com. Other titles include Cooking at the Kasbah: Recipes from my Moroccan Kitchen (now in its tenth printing from Chronicle Books), The California Farm Cookbook, and Edible Flowers: A Kitchen Companion with Recipes.

Kitty’s career as an author, travel writer, cooking teacher, and tour organizer spans more than twenty-five years. Once a food columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Kitty has written for most major food publications including Fine Cooking, Sunset, and Bon Appetit. She hosted 2 television series of her own, and has appeared on national television in the US and abroad.

She has been a guest lecturer and presenter at venues in California and beyond: from the Los Angeles Public Library, to the City of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, cooking schools, museums, and universities. She taught Moroccan cuisine at the famed Rancho La Puerta Spa in Tecate, Mexico, for several years. Her monthly enewsletter, The Kasbah Chronicles, is now in its thirteenth year.

PUBLIC SPEAKER: Kitty has been a guest on public radio, and has been interviewed twice on the BBC’s The World. In 2003, she participated in The Book and the Cook event in Philadelphia (PA). She has been a featured presenter for the Chicago Culinarians, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the City of Chicago, the California Farm Conference, the convention of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Kraft Foods USA, the famed Golden Door Spa (Escondido, CA), and, on three occasions at the Ahwahnee Hotel’s annual Chef’s Holiday in Yosemite National Park, as well as many other venues. In 1992 and 1999, she gave seminars on North African cuisine and culture at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

TELEVISION: Kitty has appeared on Sarah’s Secrets, hosted by Sarah Moulton of the Food TV channel, all national affiliates in San Diego (CA), as well as Morocco’s national television and Baja California’s (Mexico) Canal Azteca. She presented her book, A Biblical Feast, on the QVC shopping channel. Her two part series, Fresh from the Farm, which she produced and hosted in 1994, still airs on cable channels in San Diego County. For over a year, she held a regular spot on California Heartland, a weekly, statewide series focusing on California’s agriculture.

PRINT MEDIA: Once a weekly contributor to the Los Angeles Times, Kitty is today  a staff writer for WineDineandTravel, award-winning online magazine.  One of Kitty’s menus was featured in the January 2002 issue of Bon Appetit magazine, under the heading, Moroccan Cuisine: Cuisine of the Year. Her recipes have been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Diego Union Tribune, Sunset (as one of The Best Chefs of the West), Fine Cooking, Cooking Pleasures, Pillsbury’s Fast and Healthy, Aramco World, Gastronomica, Eating Well, and Cooking Light magazines.