Dolly Parton Learned To Cook “Out of Necessity” With 11 Siblings At Home

In an interview with People to promote their new cookbook, Dolly Parton and her sister Rachel Parton George reminisced about what things were like in the kitchen when they were growing up. The Parton sisters’ new cookbook is called, Good Lookin’ Cookin’: A Year of Meals, and is set for publication on September 17. The cookbook is filled with both recipes as well as memories of their meals shared together and what it was like to cook and eat together as a family. “We were really helping out when Mama was not well, or in bed with a kid or having a new baby or whatever,” Dolly says. “So my first [lesson] came out of just really being a necessity of us helping mom as the older girls.” With 12 kids in the house and 14 mouths to feed, meal time was important in the Parton household. “Everybody knew to be there at the right time,” says Rachel. “We wanted to be together.” (People)